#Russian minister criticises fans for #Euro2016 violence

Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko on Sunday criticised the behaviour of his country’s fans following disturbances at the Euro 2016 match against England and said UEFA was likely to impose a fine.

The fans “behaved improperly,” Mutko said, but he said organisers were also to blame for failing to control the fans adequately at the Stade Velodrome in Marseille on Saturday.

“We will get a fine from UEFA, as I understand it,” Mutko told R-Sport news agency.

UEFA said Sunday it was bringing disciplinary proceedings against Russia for the crowd disturbances.

It said Russia was charged with racist behaviour, crowd disturbances and setting off fireworks.


UEFA only has jurisdiction over incidents within stadiums and not the mass brawls between Russian and English fans that raged for hours in Marseille’s Vieux-Port area before the match.

Mutko admitted the violence was a blow to Russia’s image ahead of its hosting of the World Cup in 2018.

“Of course as hosts of the future World Cup we need to preserve our image and people shouldn’t spoil it. That’s the worst thing,” he said.

He blamed poor organisation and security procedures, telling TASS state news agency that “such matches need to organised properly, you need to separate out the fans.”

“There were squibs and firecrackers, that’s bad of course. There wasn’t any netting, nothing,” he added.


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