Wednesday 15 June 2016 16:05, UK
Russian government officials have defended the behaviour of Russian fans at Euro 2016 by claiming they have been provoked into violence.
UEFA has said Russia will be thrown out of the tournament if there is a repeat of the violence by Russia fans which marred the end of last Saturday's match against England in Marseille, where there was also trouble ahead of the game.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov conceded it was "unacceptable to behave like some of our citizens" in Marseille but criticised the "provocative" behaviour of England fans.
"We cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that (the French) are trying to ignore the absolutely provocative actions of fans from other countries," Lavrov said.
"You probably saw the outrageous scenes on television of them trampling on the Russian flag and screaming insults directed at the Russian leadership and leading Russian athletes."
Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko has also claimed Russian fans are being provoked and said he could not rule out more violence as a result.
"I do not have any certainty that disorder involving Russian fans will not be repeated," he said. "Our fans are constantly being provoked. And whatever happens it is immediately said that the Russians are guilty.
"There are now 15-20,000 Russians in different towns (in France). Most of them want to watch good football."
Meanwhile, the Russian foreign ministry has summoned France's ambassador in Moscow to protest over the detention of Russian supporters on Tuesday, warning that "further stoking of anti-Russian sentiments... could significantly aggravate the atmosphere in Russian-French relations."
French police swooped on a group of 43 Russian supporters near Marseille and took them into custody, but Lavrov has criticised their actions.
"It was an absolutely unacceptable incident when a bus with more than 40 Russian fans was stopped by police," Lavrov said.
French police "demanded that they get off the bus for document and identification checks," Lavrov said in parliament.
The minister said the French authorities had not informed the Russian embassy or the consulate in Marseille before intercepting the bus transporting Russian fans, who included far-right sympathiser Alexander Shprygin, who heads the Russian football supporters association.
Lavrov said Russian diplomatic missions in France only learned of the incident from social media after Shprygin and other fans published pictures and updates about their detention.
Eleven of the 43 were released on Wednesday, but French officials said the others could be charged or expelled from the country.
Marseille prosecutors believe they have enough proof to charge some of the detained Russian fans with involvement in Saturday's violence.
"We have sufficiently accurate information that at least some of them took part in the unacceptable violence," top local official Adolphe Colrat said.
