Copyright © 2021 Euromaidanpress.com

The work of Euromaidan Press is supported by the International Renaissance Foundation

When referencing our materials, please include an active hyperlink to the Euromaidan Press material and a maximum 500-character extract of the story. To reprint anything longer, written permission must be acquired from [email protected].

Privacy and Cookie Policies.

Russian football louts in Marseilles part of Putin’s ‘hybrid war’ against the West

Russian football/soccer fans at 2016 UEFA European Cup in France: "Crimea is ours, Marseilles is ours!"
Russian football/soccer fans at 2016 UEFA European Cup in France: “Crimea is ours, Marseilles is ours!”
Edited by: A. N.

The attack of Russian football louts against English fans in Marseilles was a well-organized action that was part and parcel of Vladimir Putin’s “hybrid war” against the West and one that has grown out of his longstanding ties with the kind of fans other countries are ashamed of but that Russian leaders celebrate, according to Ilya Milshteyn.

A Russian football/soccer fan posing with a national flag in front of French police protecting the order at the 2016 UEFA European Cup in France, June 2016 (Image: social media)
A Russian football/soccer fan posing with a national flag in front of French police protecting the order at the 2016 UEFA European Cup in France, June 2016 (Image: social media)

At a minimum, that should lead to Russia’s disqualification from the European Cup competition, to the stripping of Russia of the right to host the World Cup in 2018, and to a realization in the West that the Putin regime is completely contemptuous of all rules of the game in all segments of life and must be ostracized until it changes.

In a commentary on the Grani.ru portal, Milshteyn says that what happened in Marseilles was the logical outcome of the rapprochement of the Russian power elite with Russian football fans. The first to promote that was LDNR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky but he was followed by the sports ministry and then Vladimir Putin.

Russian female football/soccer fans posing with a national flag of the collapsed Soviet Union at the 2016 Euro Cup in France (Image: social media)
Russian female football/soccer fans posing with a national flag of the collapsed Soviet Union at the 2016 Euro Cup in France (Image: social media)

Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko oversaw the creation of the All-Russian Union of Sports Fans, and three years later, he led its leadership to a meeting with Putin who declared that the fans had become a force and urged them never to allow anyone to manipulate them, a clear indication that Putin intended to be the only one who would and could.

French officials have pointed out that “Russian hooligans who fought with English fans were ‘well-prepared’” to shift from watching the competition to fighting the other side. And English ones have noted that the Russian football fans were ready to fight. One can only conclude, Milshteyn says, that this was “a diversionary special operation.”

A Russian football/soccer fan making faces while wearing a pseudo-Soviet military fur hat at the 2016 UEFA Euro Cup in France, June 2016 (Image: social media)
A Russian football/soccer fan making faces while wearing a pseudo-Soviet military fur hat at the 2016 UEFA Euro Cup in France, June 2016 (Image: social media)

No one should be surprised. Unlike in normal civilized countries, football louts in Russia are not the objects of shame. Instead, they are celebrated and even encouraged in their actions, as has happened in this case as well. Consequently, there is clearly a directing intelligence behind them; and the world needs to recognize that reality.

No one should be surprised by this Russian behavior, the Moscow commentator continues. “Like the tractor drivers and miners in the Donbas, Russian football fans in recent times have become figures in a big political game, first domestically and now already on the international arena,” Milshteyn says.

Russian children football/soccer fans at the 2016 Euro Cup in France. The t-shirt shows Russia's latest battle tank T-14 "Armata" and sign translating from Russian as: "Clusterf@ck to Everyone!" (Image: social media)
Russian children football/soccer fans at the 2016 Euro Cup in France. The t-shirt shows Russia’s latest battle tank T-14 “Armata” and sign translating from Russian as: “Clusterf@ck to Everyone!” (Image: social media)

That is why the state supports and even trains them alongside athletes and for the state’s own purposes. In fact, the commentator concludes, “this is [properly] called hybrid war, and sport as well serves as a replacement to war during times of peace.”

“It cannot be excluded,” he says, that some of those who fought the British fans included in their ranks the very same people who fought in Crimea and sought to create “Novorossiya.” After all, they are part and parcel of the very same war that the Kremlin leader has chosen to fight against the rest of the world.

A fresh round of violence by Russian football/soccer fans in the center of Lille, France.  A British fan on the ground is being cruelly drop-kicked in the head multiple times by the Russian gang (Image: social media)
A fresh round of violence by Russian football/soccer fans in the center of Lille, France. A British fan on the ground is being cruelly drop-kicked in the head multiple times by the Russian gang (Image: social media)

 

Edited by: A. N.
You could close this page. Or you could join our community and help us produce more materials like this.  We keep our reporting open and accessible to everyone because we believe in the power of free information. This is why our small, cost-effective team depends on the support of readers like you to bring deliver timely news, quality analysis, and on-the-ground reports about Russia's war against Ukraine and Ukraine's struggle to build a democratic society. A little bit goes a long way: for as little as the cost of one cup of coffee a month, you can help build bridges between Ukraine and the rest of the world, plus become a co-creator and vote for topics we should cover next. Become a patron or see other ways to support. Become a Patron!
Total
0
Shares
Related Posts