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MOSCOW, June 22 (Reuters) – Russia’s Foreign Ministry urged
Poland on Friday to release Russian soccer fans detained 10 days
ago after street battles with Poles on the night their teams met
in a Euro 2012 match.
However, Poland’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that
the matter would be dealt with in line with the law.
Street clashes broke out when thousands of Russian fans
marched towards the National Stadium in Warsaw before the Group
A match against the co-hosts, which ended in a 1-1 draw.
Masked hooligans attacked Russian fans and some Russians
fought back, with both groups of supporters also clashing with
the police who fired tear gas and rubber bullets.
Nearly 200 people were detained by police, including 24
Russians. Two of the Russians were expelled from Poland.
Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on
its website that Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Titov and
Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Katarzyna Pelczynska-Nalecz had
spoken and Moscow demanded that Russian fans should be released.
“From the Russian side, strongly underscored was a necessity
of solving all the issues for an early return to the motherland
of Russian soccer fans, detained in Poland during notorious
incidents at the European soccer championship,” it said.
But Poland’s Foreign Ministry responded with a statement
saying: “Minister Katarzyna Pelczynska-Nalecz responded that in
Poland such cases are dealt with and will be dealt with in line
with the currently applicable law”.
The Poland and Russia national teams were knocked out of the
soccer finals, being co-hosted with Ukraine, in the group stage.
(Reporting by Andrey Ostroukh and Maciej Onoszko; editing by
Ken Ferris)
