A post going viral on social media indicating that Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that there will be no World Cup without Russia is fake.
The post read: "Russia will play at the Qatar 2022 FIFA world cup or there will be no world cup to talk about".
Pesacheck has established that the post, whose source is still mysterious, is both fake and misleading.
The truth of the matter is that Russia has been expelled from the 2022 World Cup.
The only step that Russia has taken against the ban is filing an appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS).
Also, by the time of publishing this Factcheck, President Putin was yet to comment on their World Cup expulsion.
Russia was to face Poland on March 24 in a World Cup play-off but their expulsion means the match won't happen.
Poland had also said they won't play Russia in a bid to show protest against the Russian Invasion of Ukraine.
Putin has raided Ukraine for nearly two weeks now, a move that has caused loss of lives and properties.
The world has responded by imposing massive sanctions including denying them a chance to participate in international competitions such as the World Cup.
Putin, on Friday, generally called for an end to more sanctions saying they have no ill intentions against Ukraine.
He said the sanctions will exacerbate the situation instead of solving it.
"We have no ill intentions against our neighbours. No need for its neighbours to take further action that will "make our relations worse," he said as quoted by BBC.
He added: "I think everyone must think about how to normalise relations, co-operate normally and develop relations normally".
