When the world is mad at Russia for invading Ukraine, bombing its buildings and killing its people, companies leave Russia in droves, and sanctions are slapped on Russian oligarchs and people close the the Kremlin, to invite representatives of organizations connected to the Russian government to an international powwow is simply ludicrous.

That is exactly what Gianni Infantino, the president of the world’s football federation FIFA did when he welcomed delegates of the Russian Football Union, a Kremlin-funded organization, to FIFA’s Congress in Doha, Qatar, on 31 March 2022.

In his defense, Infantino said that the Russian federation has not been suspended from FIFA, a lame explanation after FIFA suspended Russia indefinitely from all its international tournaments last February. But, knowing Infantino’s love affair with the Russian President Vladimir Putin who in 2019 gave him an Order of Friendship medal, one will wonder why Infantino himself was allowed to participate.

Photo: CC Doha Stadium Plus Qatar