Russia summons French envoy over Euro 2016 fan arrests

Russia’s foreign ministry today summoned France’s ambassador to Moscow over the detention of 43 Russian fans in southern France after street violence in Marseille.

The move came after Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov branded the action by the French police “an absolutely unacceptable incident”.

The ministry said it summoned French ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert over the detention of the Russian fans who were travelling from Marseille to Lille,  particularly the “discriminatory and indiscriminate measures against Russian citizens”.

Police had surrounded a bus carrying the fans at a hotel near Marseille and took them into custody over the clashes that erupted before and during Russia’s match against England on Saturday.

The Russian ministry accused French authorities of failing to notify its  diplomats of the action and keeping 43 people locked in the bus for hours, calling on France to “make a decision on their fates as soon as possible”.

“Further stoking of anti-Russian sentiments surrounding the topic of the participation of our squad in the Euro football championships could significantly aggravate the atmosphere in Russian-French relations,” it said.