FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - Champions League - Round of 16 Draw - Nyon, Switzerland - December 17, 2018 Former AS Roma player Francesco Totti before the draw REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photo
ROME (Reuters) - Former Italy and AS Roma striker Francesco Totti said on Tuesday he was ready to cancel a trip to Moscow next month that has been criticised as a publicity stunt for President Vladimir Putin's Russia.
Totti, who retired in 2017 but remains hugely popular in Italy and beyond, is scheduled to attend as a guest of honour a gala event hosted by Bookmaker Ratings, a Russian online platform for sports betting.
His April 8 appearance has been promoted in Moscow with huge digital billboards showing the player wearing his trademark number 10 shirt and the caption "The Emperor is going to the third Rome".
The "Third Rome" refers to the historic idea, beloved by nationalists and religious conservatives, that Moscow and Russia, coming after Rome and Constantinople, are heirs to the Roman Empire and defenders of Christendom.
"My business trip to Moscow has for days stirred endless polemics. But I am not a politician nor a diplomat, I am a man of sport who promotes its values around the world," Totti said in a statement to Italian news agency ANSA.
"Having said this, if I were to receive a request from a competent body not to participate in the Moscow event, I would not hesitate for a moment to take a step back," the 48-year-old added.
Italy's conservative government, which has supported Ukraine against Russian aggression but is now hedging its position over U.S. efforts to end the war, has not commented on Totti's trip, while opposition politicians have asked him not to go.
(Reporting by Alvise Armellini; Editing by Toby Davis)
