There were clashes between Russian and English fans when the two sides met at the weekend.
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A football fan takes a selfie as French riot police encounter hundreds of rowdy English soccer fans Wednesday in Lille, France.
“A number of videos have been uploaded onto the web and clearly the English and the Welsh provoked them”, Smolov told reporters.
The tournament still has a few games left and authorities will be watching closely.
The group was put on a flight from Nice to Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport earlier Saturday after French investigators were unable to slap specific charges on its members but said they suspected some of them were violent and well-organised hooligans.
Despite their impending removal from France, Alexander Shprygin, the leader of a Russian fan group who is among the 20 to be deported, told The Associated Press that their visas would not be canceled and all planned to return to France for Monday’s match against Wales.
Three Russian football fans have been given prison terms for their part in the violence ahead of Saturday’s Euro 2016 game between England and Russia. “If people should go out with the intention of fighting, they shouldn’t do it in the stadium”. He added that he had saved up more than $2,000 to travel to France.
The independent UEFA Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body handed the Russian Football Union a fine of 50,000 euros ($168,000) and placed the Russian team under suspended disqualification – accusing Russian fans with crowd disturbances, racist behavior and setting off fireworks within the Stade Velodrome.
He even urged Russian fans to “keep up the good work”.
A group of English fans in France for the Euro 2016 soccer championship have been caught on video taunting begging children in the street, apparently throwing coins at boys, forcing them to scramble and race each other for the pickings. The other 20 will soon be released, according to authorities.
Police had to protect several thousand French soccer fans who had watched their team in an official fan zone set up for soccer lovers in each host city.
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Also on Thursday three Russian fans were jailed for one year, 18 months and two years respectively by a Marseille court for planning acts meant to harm people and destroy property.
