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Russian Football Union (RFU) President Vitaly Mutko regrets the decision made by the FIFA Ethics Committee, which has suspended FIFA President Joseph Blatter and Michel Platini, head of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), from football activities for eight years.
"The only thing I can say is to express my regrets about such an outcome because I believe that Platini or Blatter do not deserve such a decision," Mutko told Interfax on Dec. 21.
He said he is not familiar with the case materials and the Ethics Committee may have had grounds for such a decision. The information may be provided to members of the FIFA Execute Committee, of which Mutko is a member.
"Platini is a person who has done so much for the world football, who was a wonderful player, I don't think he deserved such an end of his work, an neither did Joseph Blatter. He is a person who gave forty years of his life to FIFA and raised this organization to a high level. All these things only cause regrets," Mutko said.
The FIFA Ethics Committee earlier made a decision to suspend FIFA President Joseph Blatter and Michel Platini, head of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), from football activities for eight years, FIFA said in a statement obtained by Interfax on Monday.
The statement says the suspension takes place immediately.
