Poland, Sweden, Czech Republic do not want to play World Cup qualifying matches in Russia

By Selcuk Bugra Gokalp

ANKARA (AA) - Poland, Sweden and Czech Republic football federations published a joint statement Thursday expressing unwillingness to play 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification matches in Russia.

The statement said that three nations “do not consider to travel to Russia” for matches scheduled for March 24 and 29, because of security concerns for the teams and delegations because of the military escalation between Russia and Ukraine.

They urged FIFA and UEFA to take action and present alternative solutions.

- The Donbas crisis and Russia's military intervention

Ukraine’s February 2014 “Maidan revolution” led to President Viktor Yanukovych fleeing the country and a pro-Western government coming to power.

Russia then illegally annexed Crimea, and separatists declared “independence” in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Donbas, in eastern Ukraine, both of which have large ethnic Russian populations.

Clashes took place between Russian-backed separatist forces and the Ukrainian army.

The 2014 and 2015 Minsk agreements, signed in Moscow with the intervention of Western powers, tried to stop the conflict, but cease-fire violations continued and as of February, 14,000 people had lost their lives in the conflict.

Late last year, Russia made headlines with the deployments of tens of thousands of troops to the border with Ukraine.

The US said Russia was preparing for an invasion but Moscow denied it.

Despite the threat of Western sanctions, Moscow recognized the separatist governments in Donbas and on Feb. 24 it launched a military operation into Ukrainian territory.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the operation aims to protect people “subjected to genocide” by Kyiv and to “demilitarize and denazify” Ukraine. He called on the Ukrainian army to lay down its arms.