Russian fans after Euro 2012

In the last month all the events connected to the Russian national football team in Euro 2012 mentioned “a fan.” Yesterday the officials of the Russian Union of Fans stated their position to the mass media at the multimedia press conference.

Alexander Shprygin, President, Russian Union of Fans (RUF), stated that “in the last 3-4 months, the Russian Union of Fans was preparing for Euro 2012 and we generally feel positive about the  activity of the RUF and the actions of the Russian fans at Euro 2012. We believe that Russian fans were among the best at Euro 2012 in terms of their quantity and their support.

The RUF helped many fans to get visas on time. Russian fans were the only fans that required a Schengen visa to attend the games. We managed to have a dialogue with the Polish Embassy in Moscow and 10000 visas were given to the Russians. They can use these visas even now, because they are valid for 6 months. In addition, the RUF distributed its quota of the tickets among the regional organizations and member fan clubs. There was an issue about what we received at the very last moment from the Russian Football Union and it could have provoked some negative reaction among the fans. However, they got their tickets and could attend the games of the Russian team in Poland. In addition, the RUF organized transport for the fans, there were 5 buses and a special train organized by the RUF and Russian Railways. In addition, there were charter flights organized by  Aerofolt as a result of the January meeting in St. Petersburg with Vladimir Putin.

There was no Russian centre in Poland, but we had our permanent headquarters where all the fans could come to solve their problems.

Moreover, the RUF organized a performance with a big banner on June 12, at the Russia-Poland game, it was the biggest banner at Euro 2012, 40x60 m, with a knight which many Poles believed to be Prince Pozharsky.

I would like to apologize for the incident with pyrotechnic devices that were twice thrown on the pitch during the Wroclaw game with the Czechs and during the game with the Poles. We would also like to stress that there were about 10,000 Russian fans at the first game and 20,000 at the second  and a record number of  Russian fans in the history of the Russian games abroad attended the Russia-Greece match on June 16. The pyrotechnic device could have been thrown by just one person, perhaps even a provocateur, because their names are not established yet. You cannot judge all Russian fans that did not do anything wrong by these minor incidents. As for the banner "Stalingrad", we could not predict the reaction of UEFA to this banner, in which the residents of Volgograd remembered the historic name of their city.

As for the incident with the stewards in Wroclaw, I would like to say that in our statement we simply voiced the reasons for the incidents, because in our country the stewards have only administrative functions, they are not guards and do not restrain the fans, so we just described the events but we did not justify the beating of the stewards.

In general there were just three incidents with the Russian fans at Euro 2012 that were abundantly described in the press. But nobody pays attention to the number of problems that needed to be solved and were solved. In particular, we believe and some experts also believe that the experience of June 12 was positive, my colleagues will talk more about it. The decision about this action was taken back in April, when we went to Poland on a preparatory visit to plan, when we learned that there will be no Russian house. The majority agree that this action was the only safe way for the majority of the fans to get to the stadium, because many people among those who came to the stadium by themselves were beaten up by Polish radicals. We did not expect that the degree of russophobia in Poland would be so high and that the situation is so politicized. Straight after our arrival at the airport the only question that the journalists were asking is whether there would be a march on June 12.

And then every day started with a crowd of journalists who were creating excitement around this story, comparing it for some reason with the battle of the Vistula and the Tukhachevsky army, looking for historical parallels. The RUF and Russian fans did not deceive the Warsaw authorities in any way, because this march was approved by them and by the police. There were no political slogans or any legal violations, but the Russian fans were attacked and some tried to resist. Out of 180 arrested there were only 20 Russians. Although most of the Poles simply paid the fine and were allowed to go Russian fans are still being kept in prison. The case is being prolonged for political reasons, we are daily on the phone with the Russian Embassy in Poland and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I hope that they will soon come home.”

According to Edward Latypov, Head of St. Petersburg Department of the RUF, “if we look at the history of Russian marches, this tradition starts in 2004 from the first mass arrival of Russian fans abroad to the European Championship in Portugal. As those who went to the matches know, it all started with Smolensk, which was at every march. A similar march took place in Innsbruck at Euro 2008, in Cardiff, in Helsinki, therefore there was nothing unique in the idea of that march, especially if it coincided with the Day of Russia. When they say that this march was a provocation, there are many videos on Youtube of the Dutch march in Kharkov, the march of the Swedes, but nobody calls them provocative. In our case it was also a non-political traditional march of the Russian fans in order to support the Russian team.

On June 8 - there is a video of this on the internet - on the way to Wroclaw we went to the Warsaw City council and informed them about the march. According to Polish law, if it is not a political rally there is no need for the approval of the authorities. But we felt responsible for the people and, together with another fan organization of Russia, we sent an application, we were immediately called back and the next day we had a two-hour working meeting with the Warsaw city government and police. They approved our route - it is about 3 km to the stadium - but they immediately told us that there will be provocations from the radical Polish fan movements. We decided that there should be extra police forces and discussed a way of cooperating. By our estimate the march gathered 7000 people.

Some media said that the Russian fans were carrying a banner with Stalin - this is complete lies. We did not even roll out the traditional flag Smolensk, because in this situation it could have been misinterpreted. We did everything not to provoke our Polish colleagues. And even when the conflicts started, there were no anti-Polish slogans. We can say that the Polish fans did not pass the test for tolerance, while Russian fans were trying to be peaceful and tolerant. We came for the European championship and we are cheering for our team and not against anyone.

What do we take from it? When the RUF is called an ultra-rightist organization - some Polish press also said so - it is not true, we unite people from different clubs, with different views, our organization is unique because it brings people together and makes them find a common language. This march brought together very different fans and simple tourists, we were one whole, it was a positive holiday. I think if our football players joined us we would have definitely won against Poland. By the way, the day before, together with the Russian Football Union and Polish fans, we laid flowers; we tried to reduce the degree of confrontation. Perhaps we did not succeed. I can only add that later the Poles apologized for these incidents. We work together with the organizational committee of the Championship of 2018 that will take place in Russia and we concluded that we need to prepare better to avoid similar incidents.”

Vsevolod Alexeev, Executive Director of RUF, said that “before Euro 2012, the Ministry of the Interior created a special committee to organize and help fans to get to the championship. It was also planned to send a delegation of Ministry representatives to provide support to the Russian fans, in particular at the very last meeting headed by the first deputy minister it was said that a delegation would be sent, that its representatives would wear the uniform of the Russian police so that the fans would be able to easily find them and ask for help. I do not know, correct us if we are wrong, but neither we nor any of the fans saw any of the representatives of the Ministry in uniform. Unfortunately... Otherwise it would have possibly solved many problems. It could have been a good preventative measure. The police did not attend our working meeting at Warsaw City Hall when we discussed the march, although we invited them there. We did not see Russian policemen at the entrance, although we also invited them. In addition, after the march we can claim that this was the only chance for the fans - there were about 7000 instead of the planned 5000 -  to come there without being attacked. Those fans that could not or did not want to join the organized march were often attacked by hooligans or radical fans. The attacks continued after the game. As a result, about 40 Russian citizens asked for medical help.

As a result of these incidents some fans were involved in conflicts because somebody was attacked and some had to interfere to protect the fans. As a result, 27 people were arrested, most of them already received their sentences according to the so-called quick scheme - meaning within 1-3 days from the moment of arrest, avoiding the prosecutor's office. Some of them received deportation with a several-year ban from entering the EU, while others are still in Polish prisons. We are monitoring their situation, although we have very limited opportunities to do so and have to rely on the help of the Russian Embassy in Poland and talks with their relatives. Yesterday we received an official response from the Russian Embassy, and we can say that the lawyers sent complaints for three of the arrested - Abramov, Lepikhov and Yeryomin. Lepikhov's case should be considered on July 10, the others in the near future. For four other people - altogether there are seven - the court prolonged their arrest until additional photo and video material is collected, so the consideration is being postponed. According to our information, the deadline for collecting the materials is today, so we hope to hear some news in the near future. As for the fan Artyom Gurchenko, who has a poor health condition , due to the effort of the consuls he was moved to a different isolation block with a hospital and his wife and brother were allowed to visit him. This was also achieved with the great help of the Russian consulate.

As far as we know there are no complaints, all measures are being taken to ensure proper conditions for the Russian citizens, including security questions. The situation is under control of the Russian Union of Fans and Minister of Sport Vitaly Mutko, through his help the Ministry of Sport found money to pay the lawyers that we transferred to the account of the Russian Embassy in Poland to pay the lawyers. We hope that guys will soon return home. We understand that the situation is not easy, but unfortunately even the sentence materials were not received by the Russian embassy. We do not know how good the evidence is. As far as we know, in some cases of quick sentencing the prosecution case was based entirely on the evidence of the policemen who conducted the arrest without using video or any other evidence. This makes us believe that the situation is contestable. I will repeat that the situation is in control and hope that the guys will soon come home.”