Russian hooligans in World Cup crackdown after 2016 rampage

MOSCOW — At their peak, Russian hooligans felt like gods.

“We’re on Mount Olympus right now and it had to be done,” is how one veteran hooligan from Moscow recounts his part in brawls with English fans at the 2016 European Championship. “We went for the English, who were kings, to knock them off their throne.”

But ahead of the World Cup, Russian authorities are cracking down on the hooligan culture in football. Groups which wreaked havoc two years ago report surveillance and threats from law enforcement.

Leading hooligans from each club face lengthy prison sentences on old or trumped-up charges if there’s trouble at the World Cup, even if they aren’t personally involved, the Moscow hooligan — a large, muscular man with scars on his knuckles — told the Associated Press. He likened their situation to that of “hostages” and said the hooligan scene in Russia “is finished.”

“All the leaders get called in for chats,” he said, imitating an officer: “‘On behalf of our state security service, I’ll explain that if there are problems, then those guys are in prison and you’ll be joining them. We need everything to go quietly.’ It’s been done precisely so that everyone understands that even if there’s no case against you, your guys will get it in your place.”

Speaking on condition of anonymity to describe numerous illegal acts, he said he traveled to Marseille in 2016 specifically to take part in fights with the English at the European Championships. England’s hooligans of the 1980s and 1990s inspired many Russian groups — most still bear English names — but in Marseille the Russians wanted to snuff out that reputation.

“For a long time, the English were considered the strongest,” he said, but they were no match for Russians with martial arts training. “There were guys sitting there with a Birmingham banner and we went up to them. ‘Either we’re taking your banner or you stand up and fight for it.’ The Birmingham guys decided they didn’t need the banner that much.”

The violence on Marseille’s streets and in the stadium was greeted with jokes and even praise from some Russian lawmakers and officials. President Vladimir Putin called the fighting “sad,” then questioned “how 200 Russian fans could beat up several thousand English,” to laughter from his audience.

Other sources with knowledge of the fan scene described the Russian crackdown since Marseille.

Alexander Shprygin ran a fan group which worked with the government on World Cup planning, and had been photographed with Putin. He has rapidly fallen from grace.

Shprygin was twice deported from France during the 2016 tournament and two of his organization’s board members were imprisoned in Marseille over the disorder. He denies any role. Three months later, Russian police arrested him in a toilet at the national football federation’s conference, seeking to question him over an earlier brawl in Russia, and dragged him out past waiting media. His organization has been dormant since then.

Shprygin told the AP his friends in the hardcore fan scene have been summoned by Russia’s Federal Security Service, the heir to the Soviet-era KGB, for “preventative conversations” and many want to go abroad during the World Cup.

“Many of them think like that because, God forbid, if anything happens, they won’t face questions,” he said. “They can just show their passport, that they weren’t in Russia.”