Russian security forces may not be able to prevent hooligans from striking during the World Cup, according to a Russian expert in racism and hate crimes.
“Almost all [Russian] football clubs have among their supporters organised groups of football hooligans. Some of them have more ideological agendas,” said Alexander Verkhovsky, director of the SOVA Centre for Information and Analysis, which investigates racism, nationalism and hate crimes in Russia.
“When it is important, our authorities make a lot of informal communications with leaders of football hooligans to convince them somehow to avoid organised violence," he said.
However, trying to prevent all incidents of hooliganism and discrimination during the World Cup could prove impossible, he added.
“I’m sure our authorities took all possible measures to avoid big clashes. But it’s impossible to avoid smaller incidents just because there are too many people.
“Racism is generally widespread in our society, so it may come from anywhere.”
Police checks, metal detectors and barricades are normal in central Moscow and the ten other World Cup venues across Russia.
Official estimates claim that more than 600 million dollars (AU) has been spent solely on security during this tournament.
European anti-discrimination network FARE is running a temporary diversity centre in Moscow to support fans worried about hooliganism or racism.
The network’s executive director, Piara Powar, said while he believed the World Cup would pass peacefully, the threat of hooliganism was not to be discounted.
“Most of those hooligans are connected to far-right groups and so you would not just have violence, you would have far-right influenced violence with the paraphernalia of the far right, with fascist symbols,” Mr Powar said.
Russian police are hoping to prevent a repeat of the brawls between Russian and English fans at the 2016 European championship in France.
