Russia may lose 2018 World Cup under proposed EU sanctions

Russia may be stripped of international events like the World Cup under tough sanctions proposed at a summit of European Union leaders in Brussels this morning.

The proposal from British Prime Minister David Cameron would see Russia banned from holding the 2018 FIFA World Cup and attending high-level summits like the G20.

A senior European diplomat told News Corp that the idea of taking the World Cup away from Russia had come up, and that Mr Cameron had been pushing the plan as “a way of taking broader and more imaginative measures” against Vladimir Putin’s government.

“The existing sanctions have not yet changed Russian behaviour and we need to be more imaginative,” the diplomat said.

The apparent Russian incursion into eastern Ukraine has already complicated its staging of the 2018 football tournament, with several matches currently scheduled to be played in the Crimea region recently annexed by Russian troops.

Mr Putin said he hoped Russia would not lose the right to hold the football tournament.

“FIFA has already said soccer and sport are outside politics and I think that is the right approach,” he said.