Fears for England fan safety as Boris compares World Cup to Nazi games
● Johnson says Kremlin must protect supporters
Vladimir Putin will use this summer’s football World Cup the same way Adolf Hitler used the 1936 Olympics to glorify his regime, Boris Johnson has said, prompting Moscow to claim he is “poisoned with hatred”.
The Foreign Secretary warned the Russian government that it was responsible for ensuring the safety of England fans travelling to the tournament.
Speaking to the Commons foreign affairs committee, Mr Johnson compared Russia’s hosting of the World Cup to the 1936 Olympics, describing Mr Putin “glorying” in the event as an “emetic prospect”.
Mr Johnson said he was “deeplyconcerned”abouthow travelling England fans would be treated following the Salisbury nerve agent attack.
Referring to the Kremlin, Mr Johnson said: “It is their duty under their Fifa contract to look after our fans.”
He revealed that one of the 23 British diplomats expelled from Russia in retaliation for the expulsion of officials from the UK had been responsible for fan safety this summer.
Safety concerns were also raised at PMQS, with Theresa May saying the government was “working very closely with the police in looking at what arrangements will be in place to support the England football fans”.
The Foreign Secretary was
0 Boris Johnson compared Vladimir Putin’s PR use of Russia’s hosting of the World Cup to Hitler and the 1936 Olympics in Berlin responding to Labour MP Ian Austin, who said the England team should not travel to the World Cup.
Mr Austin said: “Putin is going to use it in the way Hitler used the 1936 Olympics.”
He added: “I frankly do not think England should be participating in the World Cup. I don’t think we should be supporting Putin using this as a PR exercise to gloss over the gross human rights abuses for which he’s responsible.”
He also questioned how England fans could be safe, particularly given the expulsion of British diplomats.
The Foreign Secretary replied: “I think that your characterization of what is going to happen in Moscow, the World Cup, in all the venues – yes, I think the comparison with 1936 is certainly right. I think it’s an emetic prospect, frankly.”
In the escalating war of words, Russia yesterday accused Britain of deliberately concealing evidence over the nerve agent attack in Salisbury.
The Russian foreign ministry head of non-proliferation and arms control insisted Moscow bore no responsibility for the incident and dismissed British demands for an explanation as “absurd”.
Vladimir Yermakov questioned whether the incident, which left former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, fighting for their lives even involved a nerve agent.
“All the facts are being concealed intentionally and the real evidence could [have] vanished. This has happened before in Great Britain, repeatedly,” he said.