UEFA ruled earlier Tuesday that Russian Federation will be disqualified from Euro 2016 if there is more violence by the team’s fans inside stadiums in France.
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UEFA on Tuesday fined the Russian Football Union and said the country would be sent home from France if there is a repeat of the crowd disturbances that marred their opening 1-1 draw with England in Marseille at the weekend.
“The Russian players or the coach would not deserve anything bad because it’s all about football”, said Kozak, whose side face Russia in Group B on Wednesday.
Some 50,000 English and Welsh supporters are due to descend on Lens, while many fans are also expected to be staying in Lille and Mrs May said the Foreign Office is advising England fans without tickets not to travel to either city.
Policing in Lille is posing an additional challenge for authorities because Russian Federation plays Slovakia in the other Group B game at the Stade Pierre Mauroy on Wednesday.
Uefa said on Sunday it could throw England or Russian Federation out of the tournament if violence continued outside.
After a quiet night and morning in Lille, Russian and Slovakian fans gathered inside the city’s stadium Wednesday for their match at the European Championship.
On Monday, Igor Lebedev, a senior Russian lawmaker and member of the RFU’s executive committee, praised the Russian fans, saying they “did a good job” fighting the English.
He said French authorities had failed to inform Russian diplomats about the incident despite having an obligation to do so under worldwide law.
“You can’t say the Russian fans are the only faulty ones”.
French prosecutors have said 150 Russian supporters who were “extremely well-prepared” and “extremely violent” evaded arrest in Marseille.
He said: “Somebody threw, not a grenade, something that went bang towards some England fans and the England fans have just run”.
A senior police officer in Lille has warned football fans looking to start any trouble that “we are ready to fight against this violence”.
“Of course there are still pernicious and obnoxious elements within the England support, but the idea we still have a serious hooligan problem doesn’t stand up to scrutiny”, he said. “There will not be any injustice”, said Slutsky in a press conference.
“We are in a fantastic position and we need to regroup, we can still progress and it is in our hands”.
The unrest came as Russian fans set off a flare after a goal at their Euro 2016 game against Slovakia – two teams that are in the same Group B as England and Wales.
“We will have a strong police presence with more than 1,200 police officers present in Lens and you can add 1,200 more with the private security that will be mobilised that day”, regional administration head Fabienne Buccio said at a media conference in Arras.
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Meanwhile, he called inadmissible the conduct of certain Russian fans at UEFA Euro 2016 in France.
