MOSCOW (AP) — Millions of Russians will be watching when their team plays Egypt in its second World Cup game — but not President Vladimir Putin.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says that “it’s hardly likely that (Putin) will manage to watch the game live” during a visit to neighboring Belarus for talks.
However, Peskov says “he probably will watch some kind of highlights in a news format and will probably be interested in the result of the game.”
Putin was at Moscow’s Luzhniki stadium last week to see Russia beat Saudi Arabia 5-0 in the tournament’s opening games, but football isn’t his No. 1 sport. His favorite sports are judo, which he trained in as a teenager, and ice hockey, which he sometimes plays in televised exhibition games.
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