Soldiers defy ban on travel to Russia for Cup

BRITISH troops have defied senior military bosses to fly to Russia to watch England play in the World Cup.

The Ministry of Defence attempted to block serving personnel from travelling to Russia because of the security risk, but a number of soldiers have ignored the order.

Major football tournaments normally attract a large following of England fans drawn from the Armed Forces.

UK police officers have also been warned to stay away, but The Daily Telegraph tracked down one officer who had ignored the advice and flown to Russia.

As few as 2,000 England fans are expected to attend the team’s opening match today [Monday] in Volgograd against Tunisia, including just a handful of military personnel. The turnout has been badly hit by security concerns following continued tensions with the Kremlin after the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and violent clashes between England and Russia fans in Marseille during Euro 2016.

One soldier, who declined to be named for fear of reprisals but who made it to Volgograd, said: “The Ministry of Defence didn’t want me here. They told me not to come. As a serving soldier there are certain countries that if I visit I have to tell my superiors. Russia is one of them.

“I told them about six weeks ago I wanted to go to the World Cup. It was after the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and they tried to stop me. The high-ups said no and there were a lot of emails floating around.”

‘It was after the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and they tried to stop me.’

The soldier and a colleague from the same barracks made a direct protest to their commanding officer, who relented. Most soldiers have been blocked however amid fears their security could be compromised by cyber hackers. There are also fears troops could be blackmailed if caught misbehaving by Russian security services.

An MOD spokesman said: “The MOD takes the security of its personnel very seriously and keeps it under constant review.”