England Fans Provoked Russians

The head of the Russian Supporters' Union Alexander Shprygin says their fans were the victims of politicised treatment at Euro 2016 and claimed they were provoked by England fans.  Shprygin was deported from the country after his suspected involvement in the violence between Russia and England fans in Marseille on June 11 before being expelled again after returning for his country's final group match against Wales.

As well as accusing England fans of provoking Russian supporters, he also blamed the French government and said there was a lack of security at the Stade Velodrome going into the match. He said “This is a politicised history and is just unacceptable. They said that we went to France with some sort of special mission - not to support the national team - but to carry out illegal things. These are lies and it's absurd, just look at how the fans of Poland and Hungary are behaving at the Euros - they are causing trouble and lighting flares. However, all the attention for some reason is on the Russians. The French government have completely failed in terms of maintenance of security at Euro 2016. Three days before the England-Russia match in Marseille, there were a huge amount of English supporters who were provoking our fans. They were insulting our country, our president and were throwing glasses of beer at us. They were fighting with the locals and the police. On June 11, they fought with Russian fans.”

On June 14, 20 Russian fans, including Shprygin, were detained by police, with most being deported. There was violence ahead of Russia's opening Euro 2016 match with England  He said his group are looking at how to bring home three supporters who were jailed in France for taking part in the violence in Marseille and is in in contact with Alexei Yerunov, Nikolai Morozov and Sergei Gorbachev, who received sentences of up to two years.