MOSCOW, Apr 18 Fans in Russia should learn from the West the culture of hurting, behavior at stadiums, as extreme club fans are bad, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov believes.
"There are people who (it’s hard to call them patriots of their team) say that they support good football. Everyone wants good football. What is so unusual here? But a supporter of the club — is a separate category, it can be called, as you said, a fan, fan. I think that all these phratries, associations of fans are useful", — Lavrov told the TV channel "Russia 1" to the 100th anniversary of the football club "Spartak".
At the same time, he admitted that there are «excesses» in the fan environment:
"There are attempts by extreme-minded guys to divert these movements in the wrong direction, to organize competitions instead of supporting football who will beat whom: Zenit Spartak or Dynamo — Spartak or CSKA. It's bad for football. If we need to learn something from the West, it's the culture of supporting our teams, the culture of behavior at the stadiums".
When asked if he considers himself a fan or a fan, Lavrov replied: «I never even thought about it» .
"We somehow with Alexander Zhukov, he is also a "Spartacist" (Russian politician, ex-First Deputy Speaker of the State Duma and ex-President of the Russian Olympic Committee — ed.), noticed: they went to football, as soon as we arrive — they will definitely lose. As we watch on TV — a good result. On April 10, I didn’t get into football when we played with the Tula & # 34; Arsenal & # 34;. But the score is worthy (3:0 in favor of "Spartacus" — ed.)", — Lavrov gave an example.