Blatter is a victim and a brave person - Russian chief

FIFA President Sepp Blatter gestures during a news conference after the Extraordinary FIFA Executive Committee Meeting at the FIFA headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland July 20, 2015. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

ST PETERSBURG (Reuters) - FIFA's embattled president Sepp Blatter is "a victim" and "a very brave person", the chief executive of the 2018 Russian World Cup organising committee said on Friday.

Blatter is in St Petersburg for Saturday's World Cup qualifying draw, his first foreign trip since football's ruling body became the subject of criminal investigations into allegations of systemic corruption.