"We all know the situation developing around Mr Blatter right now. I
don't want to go into details but I don't believe a word about him being
inolved in corruption personally," he said.
FIFA boss Sepp Blatter deserves a Nobel Prize for his stewardship of soccer's governing body, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview aired by Swiss broadcaster RTS on Monday.
On Saturday, at a meeting with Putin in St Petersburg,
Blatter said that FIFA, facing a major bribery scandal, had passed a
resolution offering full support for holding the 2018 World Cup in
Russia.
"We all know the situation developing
around Mr Blatter right now. I don't want to go into details but I don't
believe a word about him being inolved in corruption personally," he said.
"I
think people like Mr Blatter or the heads of big international sporting
federations, or the Olympic Games, deserve special recognition. If
there is anyone who deserves the Nobel Prize, it's those people.”
Blatter
announced he was quitting in June over a bribery scandal being
investigated by U.S., Swiss and other law enforcement agencies that
plunged FIFA into the worst crisis in its 111-year history. Officials
have been indicted though Blatter himself has not and he denies any
misconduct.
The scandal has cast a cloud over the forthcoming World Cups in Russia and Qatar, but Russian officials have dismissed any suggestion Russia could be stripped of the contest.
In
May, when the scandal broke, Putin harshly criticised the U.S.
investigation into FIFA as meddling in matters that were outside its
jurisdiction.
He rekindled that criticism in the
interview broadcast on Monday, and widened it to include Britain, noting
that those two countries had bid to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
"The way there is this fight against corrpution makes me wonder if it isn't a continuation of the bids for 2018 and 2022."
An
economic crisis has forced cut-backs in Russia's World Cup
preparations, but Putin and FIFA officials have said this will not
affect Russia's ability to host the championship.
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