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Vladimir Putin says Sepp Blatter should receive Nobel Peace Prize


Russian president Vladimir Putin said Thursday suspended FIFA President Sepp Blatter should receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

“Whether there are signs of corruption in FIFA, the investigation must show. As for Joseph Blatter, he is a very respected person, he has done a lot for the development of world soccer,” Putin said per The Guardian.  “He has always tried to treat football not as a sport but as an element of cooperation between countries and peoples. He is the one who must be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.”

Blatter was at FIFA’s Swiss headquarters answering to charges of corruption in front of the governing body’s ethics panel on Thursday. Blatter is already serving a 60-day ban.

The charges made against Blatter and FIFA Vice President Michel Platini center around a $2 million payment Platini received from FIFA in 2011, a payment that was made for work carried out a decade earlier.

Blatter is also the focus of a corruption probe led by Swiss prosecutors.

That hasn’t kept Putin—whose country will host the 2018 World Cup—from backing Blatter.

“We know firmly one thing—that we received the right to host the World Cup in an absolutely honest and competitive fight,” Putin said.