March 22 – The diplomatic spat between Britain and Russia over the poisoning of a former double agent on British soil has plummeted to new depths after British foreign secretary Boris Johnson claimed Vladimir Putin will use this summer’s World Cup to glorify Russia in the same way Adolf Hitler used Berlin’s hosting of the summer games in 1936 as propaganda for the Nazi regime.
Johnson made the highly contentious remarks during a parliamentary appearance at which he revealed the number of applications from England fans wanting to travel to Russia in June currently stands at just 24,000 compared to 94,000 applications at the same stage before the last World Cup in Brazil in 2014.
The British government has already announced that no politicians or royals will attend the World Cup in protest at the attempted murder of Sergei Skripal and his daughter by a rare nerve agent. Johnson again re-iterated there will be no boycott by the England team, saying it would be “wrong to punish” the team “who have worked on this for a long time, incredibly hard.”
But his comments have once against raised the stakes and heightened fears of a Russian backlash against English fans.
Johnson revealed that the British diplomat responsible for liaising with UK fans had been thrown out as part of the tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions. Russia has also said it is closing the British consulate in St Petersburg.
Johnson said he would be seeking urgent assurances from Russia that it would fulfil its obligations to protect fans. “I think it is up to the Russians to give us an undertaking that they will be safe,” he said. “My challenge to the Russian authorities is to show how the 24,000 UK applicants for tickets to the football World Cup are going to be well treated, are going to be safe.”
His comments brought an immediate response from Moscow, with Russia’s foreign ministry claiming he was “poisoned with venom of hate, unprofessionalism and boorishness”.
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