“Don’t worry there will be no 2022 World Cup.” This sentence has worried many Internet users for a few days. It would have been pronounced by Dmitry Sergeyevich Peskov, the spokesperson for Vladimir Putin, live on RTR Planeta, described as an “international Russian generalist channel” in the publications.
According to Internet users, this is Russia’s response to Fifa. The latter announced, on Monday, February 28, the exclusion of Russian athletes from the 2022 Football World Cup. A decision which follows the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian armed forces, and the bombardment of several cities. like Kyiv or Kharkiv. “Words to freeze the blood”, alarms a user in the comments Twitter.
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There is no record of such statements by Vladimir Putin’s spokesman. No media, neither Russian nor foreign, relayed this information. If such remarks had been made, it would have been highlighted by the local media.
Especially since the Russian institutions have expressed themselves on several occasions on the exclusion of Russians in various fields. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that “Russia was ready for sanctions, but did not expect them to be imposed against athletes, journalists, representatives of culture”.
For its part, the Russian Football Federation denounced a measure which “has a clear discriminatory effect on a large number of sportsmen, coaches, club and national team employees and, more importantly, on millions of Russian and foreign fans,” she added.
The Federation also seized sports justice on Tuesday against the suspension of Russian teams from all international competitions decreed last week by Fifa and UEFA, announced the Court of Arbitration for Sport.