The behaviour of Russian fans at Euro 2016 has been one of the major talking points at the tournament so far, after a series of running battles with rivals fans led to their ‘suspended disqualification’ from the competition.
You might think at this point that Russia would be happy just to still be in France but evidently that’s not the case, having summoned the French ambassador to Moscow to complain about the treatment of their fans at Euro 2016.
The Russian complaints stem from an incident where a busload of fans suspected of participating in the violence, including the head of the Russian football supporters association, was detained by French authorities – an incident described by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as “absolutely unacceptable” and as “indiscriminate measures against Russian citizens”.
The French ambassador to Russia, Jean-Marc Ayrault, told the Russian ministry that the Russian fans would be treated fairly and that 11 of the 43 have been released so far, while the rest could be charged or expelled from the country.
Whether they’re Russian, British, they will be treated the same way by French justice. Most of them behave peacefully, with dignity, with a love of the sport.
The detention of the bus of Russian fans on Tuesday came in the wake of clashes with English supporters throughout the match between the two nations on Saturday, as well as further incidents throughout this week.
Russia have been warned by UEFA that they will be disqualified from the tournament if there is further violence or crowd disturbances at matches involving Russia.
VIDEO: Russian scores and fan lights flare in stands. Smoke in section. pic.twitter.com/P31A39L4Vu
— Sam Borden (@SamBorden) June 15, 2016
A crowd flare, which UEFA do consider to be a ‘crowd disturbance’, was lit by Russian fans during yesterday’s match with Slovakia but, at this point, UEFA remain tight-lipped as to whether this will lead to them face further sanctions. In a comment to balls.ie, UEFA said:
UEFA will be waiting to receive the official reports from the delegate and the referee and decide on the opening of disciplinary proceedings tomorrow.
The Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov did acknowledge that the behaviour of some Russian fans was unacceptable but said other nations like England should also share in the blame.
We cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that [the French] are trying to ignore the absolutely provocative actions of fans from other countries.
Russia have one match remaining in the competition’s group stages, a potentially hazardous clash with Wales on Monday.
[BBC]
