Russian fans shocked at 'level of Russophobia in Poland'

Alleged attack on Polish football steward by Russian fans in Wroclaw: photo - Polish Police

“Most people who, on 12 June, were beaten by Polish hooligans on their way to the stadium did not expect so high a level of Russophobia in Poland,” said Aleksander Shprygin of the All-Russian Supporters Association (WOB) at a press conference in Moscow, Tuesday.

He also said that he hoped that Russians still detained in what he called “Polish torture chambers” in Poland would soon be released.

150 Poles and 20 Russians were detained by police in Warsaw as around 5,000 Russian fans marched across a bridge in the capital ahead of the Group A match on 12 June, a national holiday in Russia.

Police used plastic bullets to break up the fighting and attacks on security forces.

Later, tempers were raised among some Polish fans when a huge banner was unfurled at the Warsaw National Stadium during the match which read, “This is Russia”.

UEFA later fined the Russian football association for throwing flares and attacking security guards at an earlier match between Russia and the Czech Republic in Wroclaw, something which Aleksander Shprygin from the Russian football supporters group said were “minor incidents”.

“There was no law breaking. Russian fans were attacked, and those who tried to resist were detained,” he said, claiming that the attack on the match stewards was in self-defence.

Aleksander Shprygin - who Poland's Gazeta Wyborcza daily says is a member of Russian nationalist politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky's Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) - also asserted that Russians had not yet been released by Polish authorities for “political reasons”, adding that Russophobia in Poland was “even worse that in western Ukraine”. (pg)

source: IAR