After Vladimir Putin lashed out at the United States for attempting to “spread its jurisdiction to other states” and prevent Sepp Blatter’s re-election, Russian officials and pundits greeted the news of the Fifa president’s resignation with anger and disappointment. The sports minister, Vitaly Mutko, called Blatter’s exit a “courageous decision with love for Fifa” and called for a new leader who can “defend Fifa from attacks”. Blatter had always got on well with the notoriously prickly Putin and, most importantly, he had been a firm supporter of the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Now that Blatter has been “forced out” by the Americans, that World Cup “is under threat,” tweeted television and radio host Vladimir Soloviev, summing up the anger around the issue in Russia. Asked about the threat that the 2018 World Cup could be cancelled as a result of the Fifa corruption investigation, which the FBI has now extended to the Russia and Qatar World Cup bids, Mutko told the Observer that there could be no reason to do so as Russia was “realising all the obligations that we set for ourselves and Fifa”. “Who’s considering cancelling it? You raise this question and answer it yourselves,” Mutko said….