SAINT PETERSBURG, June 17, 2016 – Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday called the football hooligan violence at Euro 2016 a ”disgrace” but questioned how Russian fans could have overpowered a far larger contingent of English supporters. ”The fighting between Russian fans with the English, that is a disgrace,” he said at Russia’s annual economic forum in Saint Petersburg. Logo photo courtesy of SeekLogo.com ”But I truly don’t understand how 200 of our fans could beat up several thousand English,” he said, to laughs and applause from the audience. ”In any case, the treatment by law enforcement should be the same for all violators,” he said. ”I hope that there are sober-minded people among them who really love sport and understand that any violation is not supporting their favorite team but damaging to the team and to sport.” Russian football hooligans have been at the heart of some of [...]
