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MOSCOW – Dutch soccer great Marco van Basten dismissed criticism of his meeting last week with Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying he only discussed the sport and did not raise the downing of a plane which killed 196 people from the Netherlands.
Pressure has built on Russia from the United States of America in the United States of America. ] Van Basten, who is FIFA's chief officer for technical development, said he was only at the Kremlin last Friday to discuss matters related to the World Cup with a delegation from soccer's governing body. Billed by the Kremlin as a "meeting with football legends," the group posed for pictures with a round of the table , "Van Basten told The Associated Press on Thursday. "I am aware of the fact that they have a lot of families in Holland, but they have a problem with that happened."
Jerry Skinner, a lawyer representing victims' families, was quoted by Van Basten as saying, "The Kremlin party also includes two former England players, Rio Ferdinand and Alex Scott, who are working at the World Cup as commentators for the BBC. Britain has blamed Russia for the poisonings in England this year using Novichok, a military-grade nerve agent. Moscow has denied any involvement.
"This was a FIFA arranged visit," the BBC said in a statement to the AP. "
At the same meeting, FIFA President Gianni Infantino, lavished praise On the subject of Putin's leadership, including the invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea.
"Russia is a big country, is an important country in the world," Infantino told Putin. "We all fell in love with Russia."
An international team of investigators said detailed analysis of video images that the Buk missile that brought to the Malaysia Airlines passenger jet of the Russian military's 53rd anti-aircraft missile brigade based in The Russian city of Kursk.
Putin denies involvement in the July 17, 2014, surface-to-air missile strike on the Boeing 777, which was headed from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.
Asked if he was playing apart In the process of adding to the image, Van Basten responded: "I am not helping him."
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More AP World Cup coverage: https: // apnews.com/tag/WorldCup
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Rob Harris is at www.twitter.com/RobHarris and www.facebook.com/RobHarrisReports
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