Russia surprised by Blatter exit

Moscow - Russia was surprised by Sepp Blatter's resignation as FIFA president but is continuing cooperation with soccer's world governing body and pressing on with preparations for hosting the Soccer World Cup finals in 2018, the Kremlin said on Wednesday.

"We have no information on what the reason was for this resignation," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters. "Cooperation with FIFA is going on and, most importantly, Russia continues preparations for the 2018 World Cup."