ST PETERSBURG, Russia (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin said on Friday he regretted violence at the Euro 2016 soccer tournament in France involving Russian fans, pledging Moscow would work to try to stamp out hooliganism. French authorities have said about 150 hard-core Russian fans took part in serious violence around the England-Russia game in Marseilles last weekend.
Putin, speaking at a question and answer session at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, said he wondered how “200 of our fans beat up several thousand English fans.”
He also said it was important French authorities treated anyone caught making trouble equally.
(Reporting by Christian Lowe, Alexander Winning, Katya Golubkova and Maxim Rodionov; Writing by Polina Devitt; Editing by Andrew Osborn)
Reuters
