![Preliminary Draw of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia Preliminary Draw of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/blatter-putin.jpeg?quality=85&w=2400)
Vladimir Putin said that FIFA President Sepp Blatter “deserves the Nobel Prize.”
The Russian president spoke favorably of Blatter in an interview with a Swiss broadcaster on Monday, invoking the indictments of other FIFA officials on bribery and fraud charges and saying, “I don’t want to go into details but I don’t believe a word about him being involved in corruption personally,” Reuters reports.
Putin added that Blatter’s fellow “heads of big international sporting federations, or the Olympic Games, deserve special recognition. If there is anyone who deserves the Nobel Prize, it’s those people.”
Russia will host the FIFA World Cup in 2018; by then, Blatter will no longer be president, as he has announced that he will resign when a FIFA Congress elects his successor on Feb. 26, 2016.
More Must-Reads from TIME
- Breaking Down the 2024 Election Calendar
- How Nayib Bukele’s ‘Iron Fist’ Has Transformed El Salvador
- What if Ultra-Processed Foods Aren’t as Bad as You Think?
- How Ukraine Beat Russia in the Battle of the Black Sea
- Long COVID Looks Different in Kids
- How Project 2025 Would Jeopardize Americans’ Health
- What a $129 Frying Pan Says About America’s Eating Habits
- The 32 Most Anticipated Books of Fall 2024
Contact us at letters@time.com