I strolled into stadium and sat in Putin's seat

The absence of security checks at the stadium which will host tomorrow's Champions League final was staggering.

I would not expect to be able to wander around a division two football ground in England without somebody at least asking who I was, let alone a major stadium on the eve of the clash between Chelsea and Manchester United.

Over the course of more than an hour, a photographer and I were able to walk anywhere we chose inside the Luzhniki Stadium without once being stopped. If anybody had bothered they would have realised straight away I had no right to be there, carrying no official documentation, only a passport and British driving licence.

But instead, holding a rucksack that could have contained a bomb for all anybody knew, I was able to sit in the presidential box, the managers' dugouts and even walk on to the pitch.

It seemed astonishingly lax security for a country such as Russia which has long been the target for Chechen terrorists. Moscow has itself been subjected to terror attacks and bombing campaigns in recent times.

As it transpired, it was all too easy to penetrate the confines of the Luzhniki Stadium. I had approached the ground hoping to have a quick look around the outside - but did not hold out much hope once I spotted two private security guards, dressed all in black, who were patrolling the outer fencing.

With no accreditation I expected them to stop me in my tracks.

Instead they did not bat an eyelid even after my rucksack triggered the alarm as I walked through the electronic security scanner. Nobody asked me to stop and nobody asked to search my bag.

I kept on walking about 50 yards past the huge statue of Lenin - this 64,000 seat arena used to be called the Lenin Central Stadium - and up to the ground itself.

Several of the gates were open and we walked through one - again unchallenged.

We climbed about four flights of stairs, passing just one security guard on the way who, not understanding a word of our English, waved us into the seating area.

From this high vantage point, I could see the finishing touches being put to the pitch, including the laying of the last pieces of turf - football is normally played here on an artificial pitch - and even the spray painting of the goal posts.

Again unchecked, I walked from the general seating area to a VIP box, opposite the presidential box on the other side of the pitch.

In this box, senior officials as well as the players' wives and girlfriends are expected to watch the game.

We then left the inner confines of the stadium and walked around it until finding another entrance.

The story was the same. We walked past several soldiers, police and private guards through a small door in the north side of the arena.

There was a guard at his seat but he did not check our bags and the security scanner was not working.

Making a right turn we emerged in one of the four tunnels at each corner of the stadium that lead on to the pitch. Walking past more guards, we walked down the tunnel and onto the running track that surrounds the pitch.

From here, and in full view of security personnel, we ambled around the running track until we were just below the presidential box.

Meanwhile, hundreds of men and women dressed in bright red and orange outfits were performing the full dress rehearsal for the opening ceremony which will precede the game.

Despite the huge numbers of people in the stadium, and in bright sunlight, again nobody challenged us as we bounded up the flight of steps behind the managers' dugouts and into the presidential box itself.

I took a seat in one of the leather armchairs and remained there for 15 minutes - my backpack on my lap and in full view without attracting any attention.

Having sat there I then moved further up the presidential box and stood at the spot where the players will receive their medals and the winning captain will hoist aloft the trophy.

One official chatted to me and even showed me where Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister would be sitting alongside Roman Abramovich, the Russian billionaire who owns Chelsea and the Uefa president Michel Platini as well as other dignitaries.

I pointed to some other seats just below.

"Who will sit here?" I asked. "This is where the oligarchs will go," came the reply. Again nobody bothered to ask who I was or check my identification. From the presidential box, we wandered down to the managers' dugouts where Sir Alex Ferguson and Avram Grant will be. I even sat alongside one soldier, dressed in his green army fatigues, who put his arm around my shoulder and posed for a photograph.

He never wondered who I was or bothered to look in the rucksack. After that I wandered on to the pitch itself and then walked round to the gold, spray-painted models of the Kremlin and St Basil's Cathedral which will be wheeled around the running track as part of the opening ceremony. In theory, one could have planted explosives beneath any of those models at any stage.

From there I entered a VIP area in the bowels of the ground where chandeliers hang from the ceilings. After more than an hour exploring the stadium we left by the same way we had come in.

The security guard waved goodbye - we thanked him for letting us visit his splendid stadium.