Russian State Duma Deputy praised Russian fans for brawls at Eurocup 2016
The Vice-Speaker of the State Duma from the Liberal Democratic Party and a member of the Executive Committee of the Russian Football Union (RFU), Igor Lebedev, praised the Russian fans for fighting with the English fans.
"I don't see anything bad with the fans’ fight. On the contrary, our guys did well. Keep it up!" Lebedev wrote on Twitter. According to the Deputy, the incident in Marseille and other French cities "is not the fault of the fans, but the inability of the police to organize such events. And I don't understand all the politicians and officials that are now branding our fans. We must protect them. When they come home we will investigate the situation," Lebedev said.
Earlier, the head of the Russian Union of Fans, Oleksandr Shprygin, reported that 40 French police officers with machine guns rushed into the organization’s room. The guards rewrote the fans’ statements and were all photographed."
The riots began in France on prior to the start of the European football championship June 9th, 2016. There were massive collisions between England and Russia fans in Marseille before and after the match. As a result, at least 35 people were injured.
As a result, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) opened disciplinary proceedings and threatened to exclude the Russian and English national teams from participating in Euro 2016. The International Football Federation (FIFA) has also condemned the clashes at Euro 2016.
On Tuesday, Russia was given a suspended disqualification and fined 150,000 Euros. Uefa said that Russia will be thrown out of Euro 2016 if their fans continue to cause problems.