So for me, here's the thing...

Russia has qualified for and participated in previous world cup tournaments.

Qatar never has, they haven't even come close.

Russia already had a great deal of infrastructure in place from hosting large international events, such as the Olympics.

Qatar had 0 infrastructure in place and we all know about the stories of slavery/human rights coming from this construction.

In my opinion, allowing Russia to host a World Cup is not quite as unusual as Qatar's hosting one.