World soccer governing body, FIFA, has ruled out taking the 2018 World Cup away from Russia despite of the fighting in Eastern Ukraine, and has pleaded with all the countries involved not to boycott the competition.
FIFA backs Russia to host 2018 World cup despite the war in Eastern Ukraine
"History has shown so far that boycotting sport events or a policy of isolation or confrontation are not the most effective ways to solve problems", FIFA noted in a statement.
"FIFA is convinced that, through football, particularly the FIFA World Cup and its international spotlight, we can achieve positive change in the world, but football cannot be seen as a solution for all issues, particularly those related to world politics", the statement added.
The conflict with Ukraine and Russia's possible involvement in the bringing down of a passenger aircraft in Eastern Ukraine has caused a debate about a possible boycott.
The president of the German Football Federation (DFB), Wolfgang Niersbach, asserted that he was very concerned about the escalation of violence in Ukraine and Russia's role in that conflict.
"When the venue for the 2018 competition was decided back in 2010, these political developments in Russia could not have been foreseen", Niersbach told the popular daily paper 'Bild'.
"You can't have a World Cup going on in a country when it's at war with another one", Karl-Georg Wellmann, a foreign policy expert from the German Christian Democratic Union party led by Angela Merkel, told the same paper.
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