RUSSIA HAVE BEEN handed a suspended ban from organisers of the Euro 2016 tournament in response to fan violence at the weekend.
It means the side are allowed remain in the competition but face being kicked out if there’s more trouble in a stadium at the competition.
The side were also fined €150,000 over unrest in the stadium when the team played England in Marseille on Saturday.
Russia were found guilty by Europe’s governing body of crowd disturbances, racist chanting and throwing fireworks.
Moscow earlier described the violence involving Russian fans as unacceptable and called on them not to react to any provocation.
“This is absolutely unacceptable. We count on Russian citizens and fans to obey the laws of the country they are in,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, adding that “we can only call on our fans not to react to any sort of provocation”.
“Fans from a whole range of countries took part in the riots. Unfortunately from Russia as well,” he said.
Thrown out
Meanwhile local authorities say that a group of Russian football supporters are being thrown out of France because it is feared they will cause more trouble.
Authorities were today checking the identities of 29 supporters at a hotel near Marseille and some of them are to be taken to a holding centre at the border, local authorities told AFP.
It is believed the supporters intended to travel to the northern city of Lille, where Russia play Slovakia tomorrow.
Reporting from © AFP 2016 and Daragh Brophy.
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