“It is important to send a message to every football fan and enthusiast, who is planning to come to Russia to support their national team and support football, that there will undoubtedly be a warm welcome, we will be glad to see everyone,” Smertin said in an interview to RT TV channel.
The comment comes after an incident, when some of the participants of the Carnival Sochi Fest parade were marching with their faces painted black and carrying bananas, less than a month ahead of a Confederations Cup game between Russia and Cameroon.
“Russia follows a zero-tolerance policy to any form of discrimination,” Smertin said, agreeing with Sochi Mayor Anatoly Pakhomov, who described the incident earlier as an “unfortunate misunderstanding.”
“If anyone of the 3,000 participants of the carnival parade had lost his sense of measure and taste I can only regret that. No insult was intended. To us Russians a banana is just an exotic fruit. All we wanted was to show that we welcome everyone to come to our multiethnic city ahead of the Confederations Cup,” Sochi Mayor said earlier.
The 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup will be held in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Kazan from June 17 to July 2, 2017, as a prelude to the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Cameroon will play Germany at Fisht stadium in Sochi on June 25. Mexico will play New Zealand at the stadium on June 21.
