UK Tabloid Uses Festival Video to Illustrate Russian Football Fans' "Brutality"

The newspaper illustrated its "shock investigation" with corresponding videos and pictures, depicting several Russian men fighting on the street.

However, it turned out that the pictures and videos the newspaper used as prove "for its findings" were taken during the traditional Maslenitsa festival (Slavic holiday) celebrations at the Kremlin in Izmailovo in the east of Moscow, where the fist fighting was a part of celebration's program.

Later, representatives of The Mirror tabloid acknowledged that its exclusive article on Russian football fans, allegedly preparing to attack UK fans during World Cup 2018, was incorrectly illustrated by fist fighting photos taken during the traditional Maslenitsa festivities in Moscow, a spokesman for the media outlet said Tuesday.

"Today's story is the result of a long-term investigation into Russian Ultras. Our Chief Reporter went to Yekaterinburg to interview Alexey Mavryn on-the-record, and we interviewed two further Russian football fans in St. Petersburg in person. Regarding the images used, they were taken by a Daily Mirror staff photographer and we have made it clear in the story that they are from a fight 'organized in a Moscow suburb as part of a bank holiday celebration,'" the spokesman told RT broadcaster.

In its publication, the tabloid also cited two sources who, it said, were members of Landscrona and the Uralmash Steel Monsters football fan organizations and whom it called "Russia's most notorious football hooligans." The newspaper cited the two men as saying: "If you thought France was bad, wait until the World Cup next year."

Furthermore, the Mirror claimed that local residents "live in fear" of football hooligans, and illustrated this statement with a picture of "frightened" pensioners trading on the market in Izmailovo. In the headline, the tabloid even warned, "England fans could be killed at the World Cup."

Representatives of the cultural center "The Kremlin in Izmailovo" said that the article of the British tabloid demonstrates an "absolute ignorance of the Russian traditions."

"We had a lot of press these days — about 30 journalists, but there was no journalists from the Mirror or affiliated newspapers. How it was possible to link the two stories remains unclear," the center's spokeswoman said.

Concerns over Russian football hooligans emerged after the UEFA Euro 2016 championship in France, when at least 30 people were injured in clashes between Russian and English fans after a football match in Marseille. In mid-February, the BBC aired a film, dubbed "Russia's Hooligan Army" based on the 2016 events.
The 2018 FIFA World Cup will be held across venues in over 10 Russian cities in June and July 2018. The event will be the first ever World Cup to take place in Eastern Europe.

Maslenitsa is a traditional Eastern Slavic religious and folk holiday, celebrated during the last week before Great Lent, preceding Orthodox Easter. Some traditional Maslenitsa activities involve eating pancakes, fist fighting, snowball fighting, sleigh rides and burning "Lady Maslenitsa." This year Maslenitsa took place during February 20-26.