Britain's deputy prime minister is calling on FIFA to punish Russia for their role in the Ukraine crisis by stripping them of the right to host the 2018 World Cup.
The Associated Press is reporting that deputy PM Nick Clegg said in an interview with The Sunday Times that it is not right for Russia to host the biggest sporting event in the world after what has happened in Ukraine. He cited the alleged involvement by Russia in the shooting of a Malaysia Airline plane that killed 298 people on board.
AP quoted Clegg as saying: "After this terrible, terrible downing of that jet, it is essential that the European Union gets tough on [Russian President] Vladimir Putin. We've got to take tougher sanctions, but also we've got to make it quite clear that he cannot expect to get the privileges of being at the top table of world affairs if he's not prepared to play by the basic rules of world affairs.
Clegg's comments follow the calls of some German lawmakers to have the World Cup 2018 moved to another country because of the Russia-Ukraine crisis.
Clegg warned that Putin had already benefited from Russia's hosting of the Winter Olympics last February and that hosting the World Cup would give the Russian leader more mileage.
"There's no question he sees it for himself and for his prestige as a huge gain. The idea that the world should accord Russia that prestige is beyond belief. I don't know how many people have got to be shot out of the skies before people say enough is enough."
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