Croatian President May Attend 2018 FIFA World Cup If Schedule Permits

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic intends to visit Russia this summer if her schedule permits her to attend matches of the upcoming FIFA World Cup, the president's press service said Friday.

"The Croatian President wants to attend the World Cup in Russia. At the moment there's no certainty that the head of the state finds time for the trip considering Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic's official obligations," the press service of the Croatian President's administration said as quoted by the Russian daily Izvestia.

In April, German Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Rebecca Harms published an open letter, supported by 60 more MEPs, calling on the EU nations "to join the governments of Iceland and the UK in not attending the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia."

The United Kingdom had said that neither its top-level officials nor members of the Royal family would travel to Russia for the World Cup following the poisoning of former intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the UK city of Salisbury on March 4.

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London accused Moscow of being behind the attack, a claim Russia vehemently denies, with the Russian Foreign Ministry's spokeswoman Maria Zakharova claiming that the accusations were aimed at undermining trust in Russia as the organizer of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Russia's first-ever FIFA World Cup will take place from June 14 to July 15 in 11 cities. Croatia will play Nigeria, Argentina, and Iceland in Group D.