FIFA arrests not linked to Russia's World Cup bid, says Russian sport minister

27 May 2015 - 13:16 By REUTERS

Russia's Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said on Wednesday that the arrests of officials from soccer's world governing body FIFA were not linked to Russia's successful bid for the 2018 World Cup, TASS news agency reported. Six officials, including some high-ranking members of FIFA, were arrested by Swiss police in Zurich early on Wednesday and detained pending extradition to the United States.A group of US senators wrote to the international soccer association FIFA in April, urging it to consider removing Russia as host of the 2018 FIFA World Cup because of its role in the Ukraine crisis and occupation of Crimea.Russia said in November last year that it had "always" been confident that its bid for the 2018 World Cup had been "transparent" after FIFA ruled the bidding process for the tournament and the 2022 edition did not need to be re-run...

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