‘Putin will use World Cup like Hitler’
The UK Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, has agreed with a Labour MP’s comparison that Vladimir Putin will use Russia’s World Cup “like Hitler used the Olympics in 1936.”
Speaking at the Foreign Affairs committee in Parliament, Labour MP Ian Austin made the remark and called for England to boycott the tournament.
Replying to the comment, Mr Johnson said: “Yes - I think the comparison with 1936 is certainly right.”
Mr Johnson believes Putin is determined to portray Russia as “strong again” following the collapse of the Soviet Union and wants his country to be “taken seriously again - at any price.”
“I think Vladimir Putin feels that Russia lost out, so he wants to cause trouble wherever he can,” Mr Johnson said, adding that Britain did not want a new Cold War.
“His principle audience for this is not us, it’s his domestic audience who want, after what they see as all these humiliations, who want to feel that Russia is strong again.”
Mr Johnson added that “on balance, it would be incredibly unfair to punish the (England) team.”