German soccer stars turn against Putin

Russian FIFA football World Cup has been likened to Hitler's 1936 Olympics


Some of Germany’s leading soccer players have called on their government ‘to act’ after seeing a picture of a badly injured young girl in Syria.  She is one of the latest victims of the bombing campaign in eastern Ghouta by Russian and Syrian planes.

The footballers and coaches reacted with anger after being shown the image of the girl by journalists from Bild – Germany’s biggest-selling newspaper.

The stars – including Joachim Low and Joshua Kimmich – stopped short of calling for a boycott of the World Cup. However, they said the behaviour of the Putin regime puts them in a ‘difficult position’ and urged politicians to act decisively.

Julian Reichelt, the editor-in-chief of Bild, said,
‘Russian planes are carrying out sorties every day in Syria and have already flattened Aleppo. I have witnessed how Putin’s military has flattened parts of Syria where there are innocent children. Germany has to think about how it is going to respond to this, especially after the Russian state has been accused of being involved in the Salisbury poisoning.'