Johnson: World Cup is like Hitler’s Olympics
BORIS JOHNSON has agreed with the suggestion that Russia’s hosting of the football World Cup this summer is comparable with the Olympic Games held in Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany.
Likening the situation to the Berlin Games of 1936, Mr Johnson suggested that England fans may be asked to boycott the tournament unless Russia was able to guarantee their safety.
His comments drew a furious response from the Kremlin, which last night accused the Foreign Secretary of being “poisoned with venom of hate, unprofessionalism and boorishness”. The Russian foreign ministry had added that it was “scary to remember that this person represents the political leadership of a nuclear power”.
The war of words came after Mr Johnson told MPS that he was appalled at the idea that Vladimir Putin would be “glorying” on the world stage following the attack in Salisbury, adding that a comparison to the 1936 Olympic Games was “certainly right”.
Appearing before the Commons foreign affairs committee yesterday, Mr Johnson suggested that the presence of English fans at the tournament had been cast into doubt following Russia’s decision to expel the British official responsible for UK travel arrangements. He said the decision, taken as part of a tit-for-tat retaliation to the UK’S expulsion of 23 undeclared Russian intelligence officers, could not have been more “counter productive”.
“I think it’s an emetic prospect, frankly, to think of Putin glorying in this sporting event,” Mr Johnson told MPS. “We do indeed need to have an urgent conversation with the Russians about how they propose to fulfil their obligations under their Fifa contract to protect all fans. There is still a considerable amount of fans that want to go and we need to consider their welfare.”
The Foreign Secretary’s concerns were shared by Tory MP Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the committee, who warned that England fans would be travelling into “hotbeds of Russian nationalism”.
Mr Tugendhat pointed out that two of England’s fixtures were in Stalingrad and Kaliningrad, two regions known for football hooliganism, adding that Britain lacked diplomatic representation in the regions if an incident were to occur. Figures released earlier this week revealed that just 24,000 fans applied for visas to travel to Russia, down by nearly 75 per cent on those wanting to attend the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
It is thought that many fans have been put off after violent clashes seen at the 2016 European Championship, when Russian hooligans were filmed hunting down and attacking English fans on the streets of Marseille.
Mr Johnson also took the opportunity to attack Mr Putin over Salisbury, restating that the evidence led “inexorably” to the Russian president’s door. Disputing the suggestion that the Kremlin would be “mad” to order the attack, Mr Johnson said that in “nondemocratic” states such as Russia, the creation of an “enemy” so close to election day would be “attractive”.
He added that assassinating the Skripals would have sent a clear message to Russian defectors. “I think it was a sign that President Putin, or the Russian state, wanted to give to potential defectors,” he continued. “You can expect to be assassinated.”
“The reason why they picked the UK is very simple. It is because this is a country that does have that particular set of values, that does believe in freedom and democracy and the rule of law and has time and again called out Russia over its abuses of these values.”