SOCHI, Russia — Organizers for the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi signed a domestic sponsorship deal worth $260 million Saturday, the largest of its kind in Olympic history, as Russia sought to quell concerns about its ability to fund the event.

The Rostelecom and MegaFon telecommunications companies became the first "Tier One" partners of the 2014 games and also pledged to invest about $200 million to develop the region's infrastructure.

The deal comes as the Russian government seeks to assure the International Olympic Committee that the country's economic troubles won't jeopardize state funding for the event.

The liquidity crisis that has hit Russia amid the global economic meltdown has caused major concern with most of the facilities in the Black Sea resort city having to be built from scratch.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin flew to Sochi to persuade visiting IOC officials — including Jean-Claude Killy, the Frenchman who heads the IOC panel coordinating the Sochi Games — that the crisis wouldn't hurt construction in Sochi.

"The project is a top priority despite the crisis. It deserves top priority and it's getting it. Obviously, you aren't ready to organize the games yet but everything looks very well," Killy told his hosts.

Putin took the wheel of a black Mercedes limousine Saturday to personally drive Killy to a new highway under construction.

"We are working from scratch and that allows us to build it line with modern standards," Putin said.

Putin has promised to turn Sochi into a world-class winter sports center, linking the palm-lined Black Sea coast to the soaring Caucasus mountains just to the north, and given assurances that the budget will not be cut.

But the country's biggest corporations — some committed to costly construction projects in Sochi — are struggling to attract loans as the credit crunch shows no signs of easing.

Putin insisted at a Friday meeting with IOC officials that "not a single Russian investor has given up their initial plans." He said the plans require 113 billion rubles ($3.2 billion; euro2.5 billion) this year and 127 billion rubles ($3.6 billion; euro2.8 billion) in 2010.

The global crisis has significantly cut prices for most construction materials, including steel. But the lower costs are being offset by the collapse of the ruble, which has lost 30 percent of its value against the dollar, making imports increasingly more costly.

"The whole Olympic project is going to need practically everything, but not everything is produced in Russia," said Nikolai Sosnovsky, an analyst with the Uralsib investment bank.

Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak, the Cabinet's point-man for the games, sought to downplay the impact of rising import costs, saying that cheaper construction materials and stronger competition between builders will help keep the situation stable.

The government had conservatively estimated that the 200 separate construction projects needed to hold the games will cost more than $12 billion. Due to the plummeting currency, this ruble budget is now worth little more than $9 billion.

The government has promised to put up $7.5 billion, with the rest to come from the private sector.

Russian Olympic officials also want to assuage mounting fears they are unable to attract enough foreign investment, saying negotiations with overseas companies are ongoing and voicing confidence that the money will come.

But Russia may still need to persuade foreign investors that it can deal with the financial crisis, especially after the nation's finance minister said Friday that budget revenues this year will be about 40 percent lower than planned.

"Russia may emerge from the crisis with a headache — such as late payments and corporate scandals," said Yevgeny Nadorshin, chief economist with the Moscow-based Trust investment bank. "This may turn away a great deal of investors. Russia needs to make sure there is a positive news background."

Nadorshin said Russia also needs to avoid any repeat of events such as the country's five-day war with Georgia in August. After the war, the Kremlin recognized the independence of Georgia's two breakaway provinces, one of which, Abkhazia, borders the Sochi region. The move has drawn strong condemnation from the West.

"Investors hate this uncertainty and unpredictable behavior," Nadorshin said. "They need to be sure that the government intends to meet its commitments."

The government has been bleeding its reserves to shore up the ruble and support Russian industry. Some of this money could be provided as loans to the companies building facilities and infrastructure in Sochi, the Vedomosti business newspaper has reported.

"The financing is going to be a real challenge," said Ron Smith, chief strategist with the Moscow-based Alfa Bank. "It's going to come either from reserves or from existing government revenues — and those are falling from low oil prices."