Russia's budget for the 2018 World Cup is being cut by 4 percent by scrapping luxury hotels that might otherwise lie empty after the tournament.

The move would help to reduce the total cost from 664 billion rubles ($12 billion) to 637.6 billion, Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko told Russian news agency Tass on Tuesday.

"We don't want elite hotels built to FıFA's highest requirements to end up out of demand after the World Cup," he said, adding that Russia would be careful to keep to FıFA requirements requiring luxury hotels for teams and officials.

"Bearing in mind the minimum requirements of the organization (FıFA), we have worked with each region on programs for accommodating FıFA groups and we will optimize expenses." Mutko said 25 hotels would be cut from the organizers' program across the 11 host cities.

As these hotels were to have been funded by regional government or by companies, Mutko said the savings will not reduce spending by the federal government on the tournament.

Russian state revenues have come under pressure in recent months from the low price of oil.