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This year\u2019s UEFA European Championship has been rocked by violence. While football hooliganism is nothing new, what happened this year appears organized as well as political. Moreover, the worst hooligans involved are Russian. Given the difficult relations at present between Moscow and the European Union, questions have arisen about what\u2019s really going on.<\/p>\n
First, the facts. Although UEFA expected some violence this year, what has happened exceeded all expectations. The worst incident was the England-Russia match at Marseille on June 11, which featured pre-game combat between fans. Russian \u201cultras\u201d charged at English fans, injuring several, some seriously. Bottles and bar chairs were among the improvised weapons employed. The Russians seemed well prepared, with some of the \u201cultras\u201d wearing mouth-guards for protection while others sported England shirts \u2013 a case of deception to assist their attack.<\/p>\n
Then, right at the end of the match, 150 determined Russians charged the England section of the stadium, sending hundreds of fans fleeing for their lives. Police were slow to restore order, and by the time the mel\u00e9e ended, 35 attendees were injured, four of them seriously, including two England fans left comatose.<\/p>\n
As shocking as the conduct of Russian \u201cultras\u201d was in Marseille, the comments that followed their brawling made matters even worse. Although Vitaly Mutko, Russia\u2019s sports minister, allowed that the \u201cultras\u201d had behaved badly and had \u201cshamed\u201d their country, others were less willing to back down.<\/p>\n
Some Kremlin officials greeted the Battle of Marseille with glee. A senior Russian MP tweeted<\/a> his support for the rioters: \u201cDon\u2019t see anything wrong with the fight fans. On the contrary, well done our boys. Keep it up!\u201d<\/p>\n Some Russians have found fault with allegedly effeminate French police, including this memorable jibe<\/a> from a senior Kremlin police official: \u201cA normal man, as a man should be, surprises them. They are used to seeing \u2018men\u2019 at gay parades.\u201d<\/p>\n Even Vladimir Putin got in the act. Several days after the Marseille riot, Russia\u2019s president commented<\/a> at the Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, \u201cDo you know when the football cup started there was a fight of Russian fans with the British ones, but I don\u2019t know how 200 Russian fans could fight several thousand of the British.\u201d Although Mr. Putin has criticized the actions of his fellow countrymen at Marseille, this statement was an unsubtle dig at England fans.<\/p>\n UEFA has reacted promptly to Russian misconduct. Two days after the Marseille riot, it fined Russia 150,000 Euros and issued a suspended disqualification for violence by \u201cultras,\u201d adding that a repeat of such events would result in the team\u2019s expulsion from the tournament.<\/p>\n However, the violence has continued, albeit not at the scale witnessed in Marseille. There have been numerous scuffles between Russian fans and others. Most seriously, Russian hooligans attacked and injured<\/a> several tourists outside the famous Cologne Cathedral. Six Russians were arrested for the attack. The men were on their way to Cologne Airport to catch a flight back to Moscow. Although the attack appeared to be spontaneous, the hooligans had gloves and wore balaclavas \u2013 hardly normal attire in June.<\/p>\n In response to these assaults, French authorities have expelled 20 Russians on national security grounds. In addition, three Russians who participated in the Marseille riot received jail terms<\/a> from a French court for their role in the violence: Aleksei Yerunov, the head of the fan club for Moscow\u2019s Lokomotiv team, was handed two years, while Sergei Gorbachev received 1.5 years and Nikolai Morozov one year in prison.<\/p>\n Among the Russians deported from France is Aleksandr Shprygin, leader of the All-Russian Football Supporters Union, who is a notorious far-right thug<\/a> with neo-Nazi views.\u00a0 Infamous for showing off in public, sometimes with a Hitler salute \u2013 on occasion brandishing it alongside topless women<\/a> for the cameras \u2013 the 38-year-old Shprygin is no stranger to Russia\u2019s political elite and he is popular among ultranationalists for his combative antics.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n There are widespread suspicions that Russian football hooliganism exported to Western Europe may be no accident. In the first place, the \u201cultras\u201d do not resemble the drunken Russians who usually show up at UEFA events, sometimes causing trouble. The younger generation is fitter, seemingly preferring weightlifting to vodka, and much better trained and organized for street combat. They are also markedly more aggressive than the previous generation of Russian football hooligans.<\/p>\n Several of the \u201cultras\u201d have boasted<\/a> of military service in Eastern Ukraine in Russia\u2019s undeclared two-year-old war in the Donbas, leading Western security services to wonder if they are connected with the Kremlin, particularly the General Staff\u2019s Main Intelligence Directorate or GRU, which was responsible for the appearance of \u201cLittle Green Men\u201d in Crimea in March 2014.<\/p>\n British intelligence suspects<\/a> that GRU is indeed behind the \u201cultras\u201d and that they are part of what some call Kremlin \u201chybrid warfare,\u201d which I have termed\u00a0Special War<\/a>. This is a new generation of intelligence-led attacks on Western countries, encompassing espionage, propaganda, subversion, and even terrorism, with the presence of Kremlin operatives being camouflaged. The intent of Special War is to clandestinely influence politics in Moscow\u2019s favor \u2013 and to send a message that Russia is not to be trifled with.<\/p>\n