MOSCOW (AFP) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday criticized European Union attempts to influence European football tournaments, describing EU regulations on the game as "imperialism in football".

The president's statement, reported by Russian news agencies, came during his meeting with the president of the sport's world ruling body FIFA Sepp Blatter and Russian Football Union (RFU) boss Vitaly Mutko.

According to the reports, Blatter told Putin that the EU has too much influence on the organization of football tournaments and on the game in EU countries, and is trying to project that influence worldwide. "It's absolutely unacceptable that 25 EU countries dictate the rules to the 207 countries of the world," Blatter said. "Football is a game of global significance." Putin agreed, and responded: "It's a kind of imperialism in football."

The world football chief also said he has had very productive talks in Moscow with the RFU chief Mutko and with top football officials of the CIS countries and three Baltic republics.