It seems Croatia's Domagoj Vida will avoid a suspension in the World Cup semifinal match against England for his "Glory to Ukraine" video.
FIFA probes Croatian player's "Glory to Ukraine" video:
By RFE/RL
Soccer's world governing body says it's investigating a video featuring a Croatian player's praise of Ukraine after his team knocked host Russia out of the World Cup.
The video posted online after Croatia's July 7 quarterfinal victory in Moscow shows Croatia defender Domagoj Vida shouting "glory to Ukraine," while teammate Ognjen Vukojevic follows up by saying, "this win is for Dynamo and Ukraine...go Croatia."
Vida, who scored a goal in extra time and a penalty in the 4-3 shoot-out win that vaulted Croatia into the semifinals, could face disciplinary from FIFA, which can issue fines or suspensions against players for political actions at the World Cup.
"FIFA is processing the different reports of the said match as well as potential evidence concerning the matter referred to in your message," FIFA told AP in response to a question about the video. "Please understand, until we have evaluated all information available, we cannot comment further."
Russia has been hit with waves of international sanctions over its 2014 seizure of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and backing of armed separatists in eastern Ukraine in a war that has killed 10,300 since April 2014.
Many Ukrainians and Kremlin critics have slammed FIFA's staging of soccer's World Cup in Russia and say the tournament serves to whitewash Moscow's human rights record and aggression in Ukraine.
Vida and Vukojevic previously played together at Dynamo Kyiv.
Vida was quoted by the Russian newspaper Sport Express as saying that the video was intended to be a personal message.
"There's no politics in football. It's a joke for my friends from Dynamo Kyiv," the newspaper quoted him as saying. "I love Russians and I love Ukrainians."
Russian state media ran reports about the video, which also drew fire from Russian officials.
"Such actions should be punished," Dmitry Svishchyov, a member of Russia's lower house of parliament, was quoted by the state-run RIA Novosti news agency as saying.
"Political, nationalist, and racist slogans are not welcome at the World Cup," he added. (w/AP, AFP, dpa)
Here is today's map of the security situation in eastern Ukraine, according to the National Security and Defense Council (click to enlarge):
