Russia switched the focus of its tensions with America from Ukraine to the football pitch Thursday with president Vladimir Putin lashing out over the US probe into FIFA.
The Kremlin strongman condemned the arrest of seven top FIFA officials, accusing Washington of trying to oust football boss Sepp Blatter after he resisted pressure to stop Russia hosting the 2018 World Cup.
“We know about the pressure that has been put on (Blatter) with the aim of banning the holding of the 2018 World Cup in Russia,” Putin said in comments released Thursday.
“His general position is that sport and politics should be kept apart.”
The arrests Wednesday in Zurich two days ahead of a FIFA presidential vote was “clearly an attempt to block the reelection of Blatter,” Putin said, alleging the US was trying to “spread its jurisdiction to other countries”.
Putin has made opposing what he portrays as US meddling in the world a key plank of his foreign policy and uses claims he is checking American expansionism to bolster his popularity at home and deflect all criticism.
Relations between Moscow and the West have slumped to their lowest point since the Cold War and some hawkish US senators have called for the 2018 World Cup to be withdrawn from Russia over allegations Moscow is fuelling the separatist conflict in Ukraine.
FIFA is facing the biggest crisis in its century of existence after Swiss police detained the football officials on allegations they took more than $150 million in bribes. The United States wants the seven extradited to face trial there.
A separate Swiss investigation is also looking into alleged wrongdoing in the allocation of the 2018 event to Russia and the 2022 championship to Qatar.
The Kremlin has lavished vast sums on hosting international sporting events — most notably the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi — that are used to burnish Putin’s image.
While FIFA and Russian officials have dismissed the possibility that the World Cup in Russia is in doubt, analysts said Putin was at the least concerned the event might be overshadowed by controversy.
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