World Bulletin / News Desk

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday accused the United States of meddling outside its jurisdiction by arresting officials from soccer world governing body FIFA.

"This is yet another blatant attempt (by the United States) to extend its jurisdiction to other states," Putin said.

Putin added the arrests were a "clear attempt" to prevent the re-election of FIFA head Sepp Blatter and that he had Russia's backing.

Russia calls FIFA probe an "illegal" application of US laws

The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that the arrests of officials with the soccer governing body FIFA appeared to be an illegal attempt by the United States to impose its laws on foreign states.

"Without going into details about the charges that have been brought up, we point to the fact that this is another case of the illegal extraterritorial application of U.S. laws," the ministry said in a statement on its web site.

It said it hoped the arrests will not be used to tarnish FIFA's image and will not cast a shadow on the organization's decisions, including personnel decisions.

"Once again, we urge Washington to stop trying to set itself up as a judge far outside its borders and to follow the generally accepted international legal procedures," the ministry said.