MOSCOW, January 15 (RIA Novosti) - At a meeting with the heads of FIFA and the Russian Football Union (RFU) Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin called the European Union's attempts to influence soccer tournaments throughout the continent "imperialism in football."
FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter said he had held productive talks with RFU President Vitaly Mutko, as well as representatives of Commonwealth of Independent States countries and the Baltic States, on organizing a CIS football tournament.
Blatter told the Russian leader, "As the head of FIFA, I want to approach you with a problem - The European Union has too strong an influence on the organization of football tournaments and on football in general within the EU. It is attempting to expand its influence throughout Europe's territory."
"Imperialism in football," Putin remarked.
Putin said the Russian team's presence at all international tournaments organized by FIFA was important to millions of people in the country.
The FIFA president said he was confident that Mutko would be able to bring about major improvements to Russian football.
"I am deeply convinced that Russia should have been able to take part in the World Cup in Germany," he said.
"However, football is unpredictable and it is of course impossible to plan results."
