Switzerland: Russia could be excluded from some friendlies - UEFA VicePres

Journalist (Russian): "Is it within the competence of UEFA?"
SOT, Hryhoriy Surkis, UEFA vice-president (Russian): "Without doubt."
If Kosovo is included in one of the World Cup 2018 qualification groups, Russia could be excluded from playing friendly games against other teams in the same group, one of five UEFA vice-presidents, Hryhoriy Surkis, stated after a UEFA extraordinary meeting in Basel, Wednesday.
"We will discuss the possibility of including Kosovo and Gibraltar in one of the groups, I or H. If it happens, Russia won't be the sixth team which will be allowed to participate in friendly matches [against teams from those groups]. The UEFA management will deal with how to find opponents for Russia, paying attention to the fact that Russia is not taking part in the qualification rounds," he said.
On May 3, the Football Federation of Kosovo was admitted as the 55th member of UEFA during the 40th Ordinary UEFA Congress that was held in Budapest. Following the voting, UEFA interim general secretary Theodore Theodoridis said that they might take measures not to pair Kosovo and Serbia in the same qualification group.