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Recent arrest of top managers of the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) on the corruption charges are the manifestation of the U.S. attempts to extend its jurisdiction to foreign countries, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday.
"This is another blatant attempt to extend U.S. jurisdiction to other countries, also an attempt to prevent the re-election of ( FIFA President Sepp) Blatter," Putin said.
Calling the move "a flagrant violation of the principle of international organizations", Putin questioned the legality of U.S. authorities charging FIFA officials of actions done "in the territory of a third state".
"It is possible that someone has violated something, but the U. S. has nothing to do with that," Kremlin press service quoted Putin as saying.
Moreover, Putin claimed that prosecution of the FIFA top managers could be one way of the U.S. to "achieve its own selfish purposes".
Still, the FIFA scandal "has nothing to do with" Russia and the host of 2018 FIFA World Cup, Putin said.
Recalling that Blatter had withstood severe pressure to revoke the 2018 World Cup from Russia, Putin stressed that sports and politics should not be mixed.
"Sport must be a floor for dialogue, reconciliation and solution-seeking," Putin said.
14 FIFA senior officials and corporate executives, including FIFA vice president Jeffery Webb, were arrested on Wednesday in Zurich and pending extradition due to United States authorities suspecting them of having received bribes.
Vitaly Mutko, Russian Sports Minister and a member of the FIFA Executive Committee, said earlier that many of the functionaries had no relation to the 2018 World Cup bidding campaign and that the case will not affect preparations for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Enditem
