> it never made sense to have it in Qatar in the first place
Nor in Russia, especially considering they are at war with their neighbors, under sanctions, and how the anti-gay laws will treat gay fans and players.
We have unofficial reports of Putin gifting officials with bribes. If this investigation continues, we'll see a lot more than just Qatari corruption here.
It claims that Putin was initially skeptical about Russia's bid but had later thrown his full weight behind the process. "He (Putin) took a personal interest in the running of the bid in mid-2010," the committee report reveals.
Under the heading, "Intelligence relating to Russia 2018" a series of allegations are revealed about Putin's role in brokering a major bilateral trade deal for gas with Qatar, the winners of the 2022 bid, in exchange for each others votes and the votes of others of their supporters.
The allegations also detail the plundering of Russia's national art collection, either from the vaults of the State Hermitage Museum in St.Petersburg or the Kremlin archives, as alleged kickbacks to Platini and D'Hooghe.
Conversely, anyone can claim that any fact is "unfounded speculation."
There are arrests being made and cases put forward based on this. So while it's not yet a finished matter, saying, "Nothing has been proven" at every piece of evidence is a bit of a cop-out. Pointing out what evidence there is does not qualify, as you claim, as "Putin slander."
Pointing out something is not slander, of course. But, what's the difference between slander and allegations? They both entail the same action: saying something bad without proving, no? Only in the end we will know.
Then I can just say "I think someone can prove that [slander statement]" and I'm safe?
Without seeing any evidence how can you tell if it's slander or not?
Hm. The definition is "Oral communication of false statements injurious to a person's reputation." So really, if it injures someone then its slander. Sounds like your initial idea was right - even implying wrongdoing could be slander.
The key word here is "false." Saying "X is being accused of" is or "X allegedly" is not a false statement, and that's why the qualification matters. Nothing said in the post(s) above was false, and therefore none of it is slander.
Funny how pro-Russian skeptics were "There will never be arrests or actions based on this, it is all CIA propaganda!" and now there are literally arrests and soon trials. Lets see what comes out at the trials before writing further Putin hagiographies. The intel quoted led to these arrests and while the narrative in the press is Qatar, we do know from what leaked, that Russia is involved as well.
Nor in Russia, especially considering they are at war with their neighbors, under sanctions, and how the anti-gay laws will treat gay fans and players.
We have unofficial reports of Putin gifting officials with bribes. If this investigation continues, we'll see a lot more than just Qatari corruption here.