In a move that could charitably be called ill-timed, Qatar’s emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani thanked Russian president Vladimir Putin for his help with staging the World Cup at a meeting on Thursday.
Just one month before the 2022 World Cup kicks off in Qatar, the monarch and Putin met at the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) summit, in Astana, Kazakhstan.
Al Thani was full of praise for Putin, whom he said “provided great support to Qatar” in the lead-up to the World Cup.
“After Russia made a great success in organizing the 2018 World Cup, Russian friends have provided great support to Qatar, especially in terms of organization, with the organizing committee of the 2022 World Cup,” the emir said.
“We thank you for this and we are proud of this relationship. This will continue until the end of the World Cup. I am very happy to see you, Mr. President. Thank you.”
HH The Amir: #Russia provides great support to #Qatar regarding the organizing committee of the #WorldCup Qatar 2022 , and coordination will continue , and we thank Russia for that.#QNA pic.twitter.com/DmFbanBOqp
— Qatar News Agency (@QNAEnglish) October 13, 2022
Putin, who oversaw Russia’s hosting of the 2018 World Cup, wished Qatar luck in its staging of the 2022 event.
“We are also doing everything we can in terms of transferring the experience of preparing for the World Cup, you know this, we just had the opportunity to talk about it with you,” Putin said. “I would like to wish you success in holding this major event. I’m sure that it will be (a success).”
Russia’s staging of the 2018 World Cup was controversial at the time, in part because of Putin’s crackdown on dissent and his 2014 annexation of Crimea. FIFA’s decision to award Russia that tournament now, of course, has been cast in a much more negative light after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine this year, which has been followed by a bloody war that is showing no signs of ending.
That invasion saw FIFA ban Russia from participation in the 2022 World Cup, among a host of other sanctions from the global governing body and UEFA.
Like Russia, Qatar has been a highly controversial choice to host the World Cup due to the myriad of human rights issues within the country.
For FIFA, the meeting between the two nations on Thursday was a reminder of the countries it’s recently done business with, and photo-op it probably could have done without.