Ukraine calls on allies to boycott Russia’s 2018 World Cup

Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko has urged his country's allies to consider boycotting the 2018 soccer World Cup in Russia if Moscow does not pull all its troops out of his territory.

Mr Poroshenko told the Bild German newspaper in an interview published on Monday that he preferred to keep soccer and politics separate. However, he said this was not possible when Ukrainian club Shakhtar Donetsk was having to play 1,200 km away in Lviv because Donetsk was occupied by pro-Russian separatists.

"I think there has to be discussion of a boycott of this World Cup. As long as there are Russian troops in Ukraine, I think a World Cup in that country is unthinkable," said Mr Poroshenko, who was in Berlin on an official visit on Monday.

The Ukrainian president said he would ask Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel to push for tougher sanctions on Russia because of what he described as repeated separatist violations of the ceasefire which she helped broker last month.

He was also going to ask the chancellor for more non-lethal military aid for Ukraine’s forces, such as bullet-proof vests.

“We need more to be able to defend ourselves and protect our soldiers. We need radar reconnaissance, drones, radio and night-vision equipment. I am going to talk to the Chancellor about this,” said Mr Poroshenko.

“It’s not about weapons of attack -- we don’t want to attack anyone,” he added.

Reuters