"Vladimir Putin will attend the grand opening ceremony of the 2018 FIFA World Cup and will watch the opening match between the Russian and Saudi Arabian national teams on June 14," the Kremlin said.

The Kremlin added that the ceremony would also be attended by Abkhazian President Raul Khajimba, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Bolivian President Evo Morales, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kyrgyz President Sooronbai Jeenbekov, and President of the Presidium of North Korea's Supreme People's Assembly Kim Yong Nam.

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Moldovan President Igor Dodon, Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela, Paraguayan President-elect Mario Abdo Benitez, Rwandan President Paul Kagame, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, and South Ossetian President Anatoly Bibilov are also expected to attend the World Cup opener.

The FIFA World Cup will kick off on Thursday and will last till July 15. The tournament will be held in 11 cities across Russia - Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara, Saransk, Rostov-on-Don, Yekaterinburg, and Sochi.