FOOTBALL IN PUTIN’S IRON GRIP
first sporting dispatch from moscow since relations with russia reached crisis point
The digital countdown near the Kremlin showed 63 days to kick-off in what is shaping up to be the World Cup of X- ray scanners, metal detectors and surveillance cameras.
Russia is braced for the biggest security operation seen at any modern sporting tournament. The Luzhniki Stadium, which hosts the opening game on June 14 and the final on July 15, is already in lockdown as workers complete the venue’s £350million refit. This includes an iron ring of airport-style security.
Supporters will enter the vast complex through purpose built ‘entrance Pavilions’ where they will present their tickets at turnstiles before passing through metal detectors, with all bags put through scanners.
Together with the high fencing, this will stop anyone without a ticket getting within 400 metres of the Luzhniki. Similar arrangements will be in place at the 11 other venues for the World Cup.
Arsenal fans got a taste of what lies ahead against CSKA last night, with an estimated 2,000 police and security personnel on duty for the second leg of their europa League quarter-final. The streets were lined with dog handlers and mounted police.
There were around 500 away fans cheering on Arsene Wenger’s team — many of whom travelled from parts of eastern europe, including a large group from Belarus with an ‘Over Land and Sea’ banner.
All vehicles entering the streets around the VeB Arena were stopped and checked, with metal detectors passed beneath and boots opened and searched.
At the turnstiles, spectators were frisked and banners were unfurled and checked for offensive language. The tank in the car park, however, was a symbol of CSKA’s roots as the army team rather than any security operation.
President Vladimir Putin is determined to ensure Russia’s World Cup passes peacefully and the visit of Arsenal proved a convenient dress rehearsal, albeit at a venue which is not part of the tournament. The tie has been framed by the poisoning of the Skripals in Salisbury last month, the ensuing diplomatic crisis and an escalation in east-West tensions regarding the conflict in Syria.
Donald Trump’s threats to strike at Syria dominated Moscow’s newspapers. One led its front page with an image of the Statue of Liberty holding a handgun aloft. That is without the backdrop of state-sponsored doping in Russian sport, memories of trained hooligan gangs on the rampage at euro 2016 and allegations of racist chanting as recently as last month, during a friendly international against France.
There is the ever-present threat of attack from terror groups but security around the stadiums will be strong. ‘Nobody and nothing will prevent our championship,’ said Vladimir Markin, the head of the Russian FA’s security committee, when questioned about the threat of a terror attack. ‘They will not be able to harm the World Cup.’
Nearly 31,000 World Cup tickets have been allocated to english supporters since they went on sale in September.
The number is down on recent tournaments and the FA have not sold out their allocation for the first two group games against Tunisia and Panama. Sales will resume on Wednesday.
The most tickets (80,161) sold outside Russia have been bought by fans based in the USA, although the US team did not qualify, which rebuffs the theory that the rising political tensions between east and West might deter visitors.
The Russian embassy in the US released a statement on Facebook to say: ‘Despite the active anti-Russia campaign in the leading American media, and maybe because of it, the interest for our country is growing. Americans wish to see with their own eyes what is really happening in Russia.’
Brazil (65,863), Colombia (60,199), Germany (55,136) and Mexico (51,736) are the next largest groups. Fans from Argentina, Peru, China and Australia have also bought more tickets than the english so far.
Fans with tickets will not need a visa. For those travelling from London to watch Arsenal, Moscow did not feel like hostile, enemy territory. Red Square, synonymous with military parades in the Cold War, was a forest of extended selfie-sticks on a bright spring day as tour operators touted for business.
A Lenin-alike posed for photographs and the man himself was open for business,
Ring of steel with X-ray scanners, metal detectors and CCTV cameras
with visitors streaming steadily into the mausoleum.
Wenger said his team have been warmly received since arriving on Wednesday. Young players from the CSKA academy presented Arsenal supporters with fur hats embroidered with a ‘Russian warm welcome’ as part of the ‘Gentlefan’ initiative designed to combat the image problems associated with the hooligan element in Russian football. ON
the stadium concourse was live music, a DJ set with dancers dressed as aliens, footballer freestylers and stilt-walkers, all helping to generate a vibrant atmosphere.
Hardcore CSKA fans standing in rail seating behind the goal Arsenal defended in the first half brought flags (one, in English, declared: ‘ Love Football Hate UEFA’) and bangers.
‘ We are ready for the World Cup,’ announced former Manchester United and Everton winger Andrei Kanchelskis, who won 59 international caps for Russia, the USSR and the CIS. ‘There is a lot of speculation and bad press about Russia but it will be a tournament where everyone is safe, no security problems and with good organisation. I have no worries about that.
‘Last year the Confederations Cup went well. We have good stadiums and nice cities and English fans will be very welcome.
‘The World Cup is important for us. It is the first time we have the World Cup in Russia. It is important for our people, for our football and for our young talent to see the best players in the world.’
Former Chelsea and Fulham midfielder Alexey Smertin, who won 55 caps for his country, now works for the Russian FA as part of their anti-discrimination team. He promised the FAN ID system in place will ensure a World Cup without racism in the stands.
Victoria Lopyreva, a TV presenter, model and former Miss Russia, who is one of FIFA’s World Cup ambassadors, said: ‘I am excited that Russia has a chance to show the world its best side and correct puzzling preconceptions involving bears walking the streets in year-round, sub-zero temperatures.
‘This is our chance to share our culture, show you the countryside, the seaside — to develop a tourist industry. We enjoy warm summers and we have beaches. We’d like you to come back and visit us after the World Cup, to encourage your family and friends to do the same.
‘Thanks to the World Cup, football mania is touching everyone in Russia. There’s a huge sense of excitement and it’s starting to grow.’
However, evidence of the impending tournament is not bountiful beyond the souvenir mugs and footballs for sale among the battery of Russian dolls and furry hats, and images of the official mascot — a wolf called Zabivaka — on T-shirts and caps.
In Alexander Gardens there is a display featuring the host cities and past winners which serves up a photograph of Bobby Moore holding the Jules Rimet Trophy aloft, with the walls and towers of the Kremlin behind him.
The nearby clock counts down to the opening game when Russia face Saudi Arabia.
Travel will be a logistical challenge for fans bound for more distant cities and travel operators have found some hotels which were part of the plan have not been completed for financial reasons.
Investment in infrastructure has included a new airport in Rostov- on-Don, a new metro station to serve a new stadium at Spartak, the second Moscow venue, and a new train station to serve the Luzhniki.
‘The stadiums I’ve visited are pristine,’ insisted Lopyreva. ‘Investment in infrastructure has paid off. So yes, I believe we’re all set. Everything depends on us now, the Russian people and our hospitality.’