Russia's famed Hermitage Museum has chosen one of its resident cats to predict the results of an upcoming international football tournament.

From Saturday to July Russia is hosting the Confederations Cup, the main warm-up event for next year's World Cup.

St. Petersburg's Hermitage Museum on Thursday unveiled Achilles, a white moggy who will be offered two different plates before each game to predict the Confederations Cup results.

Achilles was chosen in part because of his deafness, which Russian officials say allows him to concentrate without distractions on making predictions.

The Hermitage is currently home to some 50 cats which live in the museum's cellars and catch mice. Cats were introduced to the Hermitage, then the imperial Winter Palace, by Peter the Great in the 18th century. Catherine the Great officially made the cats guards of the royal picture gallery.