14.3 %
14.3 %
57.1 %
14.3 %
How?
The same message came from spectators at last month's Victory Day parade of soldiers and tanks through central Volgograd. "England was never our ally," a pensioner in military uniform snorted. "No-one wants a strong and powerful Russia."
Relations were far warmer in 2010 when Russia won the right to host the World Cup.
"If they behave everything will be fine," laughed Russian fan Roman, referring to England supporters.
With him behind the goal were dozens of muscular, tattooed and mostly young men. The flags of their various fan clubs were draped over the barriers and they chanted and sang furiously throughout the match.
Russia has invested heavily in this tournament, though, and does not want violence to tarnish its global grandstanding.
Roman admitted that he and other hard-core supporters had been called in by police and issued an official warning to behave.
A close ally of Vladimir Putin has promised to make a “nice juicy steak” out of the opposition leader Alexei Navalny in a bizarre threat posted on the YouTube channel for Russia’s National Guard.
Viktor Zolotov, a former bodyguard to Putin who now heads Rosgvardiya, Russia’s internal military force, challenged Navalny to a duel during a six-minute rant in which he denied corruption allegations made by the opposition leader.
“Nobody has ever given you the spanking you deserve, so hard that you felt it in your liver,” the senior Russian official said in the video, which was posted online on Tuesday.
The Kremlin distanced itself from Zolotov’s words, saying he had not cleared them with the president, but did not censure the Russian general. “You know, sometimes any possible methods should be employed in opposing shameless libel,” Dmitri Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, told reporters on Tuesday. He said he did not see Zolotov’s remarks as a physical threat.
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