Putin’s already won the war

MAnY of the Russian hooligans involved in the violence at the european Championship last summer have been banned from the Confederations Cup.

Their Fan IDs have been cancelled, making purchased match tickets useless. A similar policy is expected to be in place at the 2018 World Cup.

naturally, there is no danger of hooliganism marring a tournament on Russian soil because 2018 is all about demonstrating Russia’s power and influence to the world.

Vladimir putin won’t tolerate a load of goons running riot and making his society look uncivilised.

Russia is engaged in what is known as a hybrid war with the West, involving everything from cyber attacks to random shows of force on foreign streets.

Witness putin’s reaction to the hooligan outrages last summer, the way he condemned the perpetrators while using their violence in a nationalistic way, to mock his inferior enemies.

‘The fighting between Russian fans and english, that is a disgrace,’ putin told an economic forum in St petersburg. ‘But I truly don’t understand how 200 of our fans could beat up several thousand english.’

In other words: isn’t it terrible that our hooligans are so much harder than that soft english lot? And don’t forget, we were outnumbered.

That is hybrid war in action — but putin doesn’t need to fight it next summer. Think back to 2010 when this World Cup was awarded. On the eve of the vote, england had its biggest hitters out in force: the prime Minister, a future king, David Beckham.

putin did not even turn up. Some foolishly took that as a positive sign. They thought he had surrendered; in fact, he had it sewn up.

Only when Russia’s name had been formally announced, and england’s humiliation confirmed, did putin swoop in for a press conference.

He no longer needs hooligans to exemplify Russian muscle. On this particular battleground, when FIFA tamely gave him the World Cup, he won.