The Moscow government allocated a plot of land in the area of the Botanical Garden, but in March 1999 banned the construction of a stadium on this site due to protests by public organizations and local residents.The construction of the stadium was scheduled to begin in 2001, but it soon became clear that part of the selected territory belongs to the All-Russian Exhibition Center, which demanded a rent of 30 million US dollars from the club.[16] On 21 August 2014, a monument to the Starostin brothers, the founders of FC Spartak Moscow, opened near the north stands inside the stadium.[citation needed] On October 12, 2015, a bronze statue of the Spartak and USSR national team player Fyodor Cherenkov was inaugurated next to the stadium.[23] In February 2024, the commission of the Russian Premier League did not allow Spartak to hold RPL matches at the Lukoil Arena due to the stadium's non-compliance with the regulations.In preparation for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, the stadium was outfitted with video surveillance and fan identification systems and screening equipment.