The detention of his country’s supporters on a bus in southern France was branded by Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as “absolutely unacceptable”.
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Hours after that incident, Russian hooligans again brawled with British fans near Lille’s central train station, apparently provoked by their chants of “we hate Russia”.
All were said to be involved in horrendously violent scenes in Marseille last Saturday, when so-called “Ultras” beat England fans unconscious.
“Most people (in Russia) think the Russians were right” in Saturday’s fighting, said Evgeny Dzichkovsky, a columnist for Russia’s Sovetsky Sport newspaper.
“It’s OK. They’re just in high spirits”.
The arrests have angered the Russian government, which summoned the French ambassador to protest.
Yerunov and Gorbachev are reported to be leading members of the Russian Fans’ Union.
According to the spokesperson, both Russian nationals will soon be transferred to a temporary accommodation center, from where they will leave France for Russia.
Interior Ministry figures released on Thursday showed 196 people had been detained by police and eight of their number handed firm jail terms so far in the tournament, which lasts until July 10.
Its head, Shprygin, is close to Russia’s ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) and is an aide to Igor Lebedev, a deputy chairman of the State Duma and son of the LDPR’s founder, Vladimir Zhirinovsky.
Part of the evidence against Erunov was footage filmed by another Russian fan and posted online.
When the AP visited his offices a year ago, a T-Shirt was on display bearing the face of a former Torpedo Moscow player who was convicted of killing a man from Kyrgyzstan during a fight.
Putin called on Russian fans to behave appropriately when their team plays Wales on Monday night in Toulouse.
“The French authorities say they have taken this decision for security reasons because they consider that the supporters waiting to be expelled are a potential threat”, the association said in a statement. “He is among the group”, an investigation source stated.
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UEFA said on Thursday it regretted the previous night’s violence, but it stopped short of action to punish the fans or the teams.
