By Vestnik Kavkaza
An incident occurred at a Dynamo - Zenit football match on November 17. A fan of Zenit threw a firecracker at Dynamo goalkeeper Anton Shunin, causing him serious injuries. On November 19, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev proposed tightening legislation in the sports industry. The new bill on fans will be considered in the near future in the State Duma.
Vsevolod Alekseev, executive director of the Russian Association of Fans
All fan clubs react negatively to such incidents. It is clear that such incidents hinder the fans from watching the game. In addition, they have a negative impact on the reputation of the fans, especially in light of the new law. Now the Ministry of interior is blamed for what is happening in stadiums. Indeed, work with fans as such in our country is not organized; it is done only "pro forma". When something happens, the press and the public pay more attention to this, it results in meetings and discussions, attempts to find measures that would reduce this negative factor in the stadiums. But the constant and effective bodies to work with the fans do not exist, because if those entities had existed and had been engaged in this direction, then the results would have been visible. For now we see what we see in the stadiums, unfortunately. In this case, if we talk about the law, the main point is to make it work, to solve the problem it is meant to decide. Unfortunately, the fans do not believe that the new law will help to solve the problem. This law should work and should apply to all.
Yuri Demidov, head of protection of public order at the Russian Interior Ministry
The Ministry of the Interior, together with the Ministry of Sports of Russia, took part in the preparation of this bill. We strongly support the introduction of this federal law. Unfortunately, now only the police have obligations to assist the organizers of sports events in law enforcement and security, while the stadiums, clubs, the Russian Premier League, stadium owners do not have any legal duties. This legal vacuum should be changed after the federal law. The police are involved and assist the organizers of matches in the security sphere. Safety issues, however, are not only the responsibility of the police. It is very important that, in the project that we are discussing today, prepared by the government of the Russian Federation, there are several very serious innovations that I would like to mention. Firstly, the law allows for the approval of the rules of conduct for fans at large-scale events on the federal level, on the level of the government. At the moment there are no federal rules, rights or responsibilities for the stadiums, managers, stewards or supervisors. The need for them is, of course, obvious. Secondly is the security level of stadiums as public spaces. The draft law establishes rules that will be adopted at the federal level, including security systems at the stadiums. This search system at the entrance, in the neighborhood, transport logistics, video and photographing systems, zoning areas of guest and host commands, etc. These standards are included in the bill. For the first time the rights and obligations of spectators at sporting events will be considered at the state level. I want to emphasize that this law is not only about football. We have other sports, no less massive than football. Unfortunately, the behavior of fans at football games cases more concerns in society than, for example, at ice hockey or other sports. The rights and duties of the stadiums. Supervisors and managers. We are waiting for the adoption of the federal law, since its adoption will provide the legal basis for the participation of the stadium security services in the inspections of citizens. In accordance with the Law on Police (article 13), the police have the right to conduct inspections of people attending public events together with the organizer for the detection of prohibited items. If citizens refuse to undergo this examination, the police have the right to forbid them from entering the arena. But this norm is registered only in the Law on Police. Unfortunately, in other areas of legislation there are no rules that would have authorized the stadium administration to inspect the citizens. Furthermore, the law takes into account international experience. The commission of Ministry of Sports, the All-Russian Fan Association, the Ministry of the Interior, the RFU and the clubs worked together. This is our shared common goal. Actually some interesting new measures will be introduced, including administrative (and not criminal) penalties for violations in sports facilities, such as throwing objects on the field, running out on the field, using fireworks. This will be a special legal and administrative structure with increased responsibility such as fines and administrative arrest, if the violation led to the disruption of the competition. This does not exclude the possibility that in the event that a citizen is held administratively liable for the failure of a match through the use of fireworks repeats such an action, the court can decide to ban this person from sporting events for up to one year. This norm is not a Russian invention, it is the norm of English law, and several other foreign countries. Certainly, to apply this ban it is important to organize an identity-check entity at the stadium, this is the last point that I would like to make. Unfortunately, the Khimki match showed us that identifying the violators was difficult because of the smoke. In this regard, the bill that we are discussing today provides an opportunity, and it is supported by the Ministry of Interior, for fan identification at the entrance. A person can buy a ticket without a passport, but the stadium should have a facility for security and ID checks at the entrance which would allow to intercept violators. This is also the norm of the European level, many countries have used it. Is it possible to detect 100 percent of prohibited items? In fact, perhaps it is possible, but it would require high-quality inspection of visitors by the police and the organizers of the games, including the Premier League, stadiums, clubs. This greatly increases the time of inspection, it will require additional space. To check what's inside, it is necessary to make the person undress. The necessary equipment is not available in some stadiums for football matches. This is the sphere of responsibility of the organizers and not the police. They need to provide the equipment for inspection. This is a possible solution to many problems. We can suggest that funds that are actively used to buy and sell players should be partly spent on the development of safety systems that would allow all of those who love football to go there with families, with children, without being afraid of illegal actions of some fans. The adoption of the federal law is really necessary. We need the law with rules of conduct that would be understood by players, spectators and police. The police are ready for active development and implementation of this federal law.
