The head of the official Russian supporters group who has been banned from the 2018 FIFA World Cup says far-right fans known as the "Ultras" will continue to stay away from the tournament, even if the national team advances.
Alexander Shprygin, who has links to extremist Russian supporter groups, says the Ultras won’t challenge their World Cup bans despite country's surprise success.
“Of course there won’t be any incidents. It is a miracle the fact that our country is in the quarterfinals,” Shprygin, who heads the Union of Russian Fans group, told SBS News.
“Celebrations will be absolutely sincere and good-natured. There won’t be any clashes.”
Alexander Shprygin holds a Russian flag depicting a bear and reading 'Russia forward'. Source: AAP
“A lot of work has been done with football fans in the last two years and with good results. For example, as it stands there hasn’t been any violence at World Cup games, no flares, no streakers, or abusive chanting.
Violent clashes
In 2016, Shprygin was among a group of Russians deported from France after clashes with English fans during the Euro 2016 championship - though he denies any involvement in the violence.
Russian authorities vowed such scenes wouldn’t be repeated at the 2018 World Cup and clamped down on extremist supporter groups ahead of the global showpiece. Their tactics have ranged from intimidation to something best described as preventive arrests.
Fans clash in Marseille, France, during Euro 2016. Source: YouTube
But the measures couldn’t prevent the Russian football association being fined by FIFA for a neo-Nazi fan banner at Russia’s final group stage match against Uruguay. The banner included the number 88, which is recognised as far-right code for “Heil Hitler” because H is the eighth letter of the alphabet.
Nazi salute
The Fare network, which monitors discrimination at European football matches, has previously voiced concerns about Shprygin’s racist views and far-right affiliations. He has previously been photographed performing a Nazi salute.
While he’s been banned from attending World Cup fixtures, Shprygin hasn’t been banned from Russian Premier League matches. When pushed on why he was still allowed to attend domestic league games, he said it was because the Russian authorities simply weren’t looking beyond the four-week World Cup.
Shprygyn has been photographed giving a Nazi salute though he has denied having far-right leanings. Source: http://radikal.ru
“Running this World Cup successfully is the main task and President Putin is in control,” he said. “Generally for the country it’s obviously great because the rest of the world sees Russia as a kind, welcoming nation who will win at the World Cup and also succeed as the organiser.”
Hope for change
Mainstream football fans like Robert Ustian say they want to reclaim fan culture from the ultra groups.
“This World Cup is Russia’s cry from the deep, in order to show the rest of the world that we’re not that bad,” said Ustian, who helped create the CSKA Fans Against Racism group. CSKA Moscow is one of Russia’s largest football clubs.
“If I say the word ‘fan’ in Russian I automatically insert something like being far-right, clashing with police and destroying the stadium and things like that. This is important to change culture, fan culture in this country, and I hope one of the legacies of the World Cup will be in that sphere as well.”
But Ustian says the punitive approach taken by the Russian authorities during the World Cup isn’t a long-term solution.
“You cannot jail all these people. The most important thing that should be kept in mind while dealing with racism is to educate people. This is what we completely miss in our society,” he said.
