Russian “ultras” Threaten English Fans (Sort Of) While Isis Allegedly Threatens Retribution Against Russia In Advance Of 2018 FIFA World Cup

It truly is a sickeningly crazy world we live in nowadays, when even some good natured fisticuffs between rival gangs of soccer supporters can’t slug it out off the pitch without the threat of a terrorist plot looming overhead.

Such is the case with the Russia 2018 edition of the World Cup, which is set to kick off come June at sites across the Motherland. So called Russian “Ultras” (short for ultranationalist, or right wing soccer supporters) are reportedly threatening to mark out English soccer fans for a hellacious beating if they show themselves at the 21st FIFA World Cup, according to an article published earlier this week on the website of British tabloid The Express. According to the report, the Russian supporters have made numerous threats aimed at English attendees at this year’s upcoming World Cup tournament via group messages posted on the popular social media platform Vkontakte.com (VK from here out).

Meanwhile, the Express is also reporting that a terror plot could be afoot as well, courtesy of our old pals from the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist organization. According to Terrormonitor.org, a non-official website that claims to monitors terrorist threats from around the globe (but seems to just post a lot of Not Safe For Work videos of gruesome killings perpetrated by Islamic fundamentalist terror groups), ISIS and pro-Islamic State social media accounts are circulating a post threatening to hit the World Cup 2018.

The reason for the threat, if it is indeed credible, could come down to multiple factors. ISIS hates the West for its incursions into Middle Eastern affairs at the behest of regional ally Israel and its general “decadence” but it hates Russia even more because the Russian military – allied with the military forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad – has been broadly successful in defeating the Islamic State. Naturally, it is reasonable to presume that a heightened state of awareness will be in place by even organizers planning the Russia 2018 edition of the World Cup even under the best of circumstances, but these two, practically simultaneous round of threats have kicked things into overdrive as far as anxiety over safety for tournament-goers goes.

The Express is reporting that one member of the Russian group is supposed to have said that fans arriving in Russia from England should get ready to walk into a war. The anonymous Russian ultra is alleged to have written in a comment to other members of the group saying that if English fans “want a war, then [they] will have it. This June we will do more than sing.” Another member of the Russian group said English arrivals out the “go to the gym and prepare themselves somehow” for what seems to be an inevitable confrontation between gangs of supporters from each side.

It is speculated that the exchange of threats could be a reaction to British claims that former Russian army colonel and convicted spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, who now live in the UK (the country he spied for) were found poisoned in late March. The British government claimed the incident was an attempted assassination scheme perpetrated by Kremlin operatives working inside Great Britain, while their Russian counterparts have suggested it was a “false flag” – a hoax perpetrated to make Russia look like a bad actor on the world stage. Apparently, the forthcoming Russia 2018 edition of the World Cup will be just the chance die hard patriotic Russian soccer fans have been begging for if payback for these slights is what they want.

The moderator of the VK group has made cryptic comments about a so called “operation ‘Mundial’,” saying the “plan is already well underway,” though no specifics about what the plan is supposed to entail have been discussed online that the British media is aware of at this time. The only thing known – or alleged to be known for sure – is that the VK group - which goes by the name “Russian Hooligans,” despite not technically being a hooligans group by definition (ultra groups do not typically engage in violence) is pledging to “unleash hell” during the FWC proceedings. The presumed confusion (or conflation) between ultras and hooligans in the British press is most likely due to their not being a strong nationalistic sentiment in Britain, which would naturally mean that their soccer supporters are either generally more interested in non-aggressively cheering on their team or getting in fights just the heck of it.

Nevertheless, the British Foreign and Commonweal Office (FCO) has weighed in on the controversy, releasing an advisory discussing what England fans might be up against should they decide to attend the this year’s World Cup tournament in Russia.

“Due to heightened political tensions between the UK and Russia, [British fans in attendance as the FWC 2018] should be aware of the possibility of anti-British sentiment or harassment at this time,” the FCO release said by way of advisement. “If you’re currently in Russia or due to travel in the coming weeks, you’re advised to remain vigilant, avoid any protests or demonstrations and avoid commenting publicly on political developments.”

The ongoing spat between the UK and Russia is thoroughly elevating tensions across the spectrum in the run up to the FWC 2018, but there is a solid precedent behind the concerns of British officials. The UEFA Euro soccer championship’s 2016 edition saw violent clashes erupt between footie fanatics belonging to the rival national teams, and one England supporter - the 51 year old Andrew Bache – suffered some fairly traumatic brain injuries and only just came out of a coma in March of this year. Deputy chief constable Mark Roberts, who helped coordinate the 2016 UEFA Euro police plan and a representative of Britain’s National Police Chief’s Council, told the Express that “the violence in [France two years ago] was highly organized and those involved appeared determined to carry out sustained attacks.”

Roberts advised British fans heading to Russia for this year’s World Cup to be on their guard lest similar violence break out at one of the many stadiums hosting a match. What’s more, a legit hooligan group associated with the Russian professional side Moscow Spartak recently had a bit of a showdown with fans of the Athletic Bilbao club, and a responding Basque policeman died of a heart attack as a result.

However, not all officials across the board are siding with the British stance on the upcoming World Cup and its supposed dangers for English fans. Polish Football Association representative Dariusz Lapinski has gone on the record as saying that, in his opinion and from his considerably closer vantage point, the Russia 2018 World Cup will in all likelihood not be akin to a redux of the 2015 UEFA Euro championships.

“It seems to me that Russia will put more emphasis on preventing hooligan antics,” Lapinski said. “Following conversations I’ve had with some serious people in Moscow in February, it appears the Russians are very involved in trying to shed their image of ‘the White Bear’.”

It’s worth noting that Poland, despite its long history of legitimate grievances with Russia in all its various forms going back to medieval times and, most recently, a period of domination behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War, is warming up to Russia while the West has already jumped in the deep freeze. It’s a similar story across Eastern and Central Europe, where many countries that were under the heavy hand of the Soviet Union are resolving their issues with Russia or are at least not acting in the borderline hysterical fashion of Western nations. To wit, Western governments evicted more than 130 Russian diplomats in the wake of the Skripal poisoning fiasco and are now actively worrying their nations’ fans over attending the 2018 World Cup.

As for the Russian agencies most directly responsible for keeping the peace at the upcoming international soccer championship and looking out for terrorist plots that may be a-brewing, the Federal Security Service (FSB) – the successor agency to the Soviet era’s infamous KGB – is reportedly focusing heavily on maintaining a safe environment for players and fans alike.

“All the FSB agents are doing now is working on the World Cup,” said Russian Union of Supporters President Alexander Shprygin, who is accused of coordinating the violent clashes in France back in 2016 and has regular meeting with the FSB since. “[Agents of the FSB] are no longer looking for foreign spies — only football hooligans, under strict orders from the government. The hooligans are waiting for the World Cup to be over so things can get back to normal.”

How all this conflict and rumors of conflicts will hurt the international World Cup betting market is unknown at this time, but there are plenty of World Cup betting odds on the betting boards of sportsbooks from the Las Vegas Strip to London to offshore operators of online wagering sites. Russia’s odds have been downgraded substantially in light of recent events (probably including the ones not related to soccer, ie the war in Syria, the Skripal poisoning incident, the 2016 US Presidential election hacking claims and so on) and uncertainty surrounding security at the 2018 FWC. Nevertheless, the host nation has a fairly favorable first round draw in the group stage, with only Uruguay posing much of a threat early on. The Russian national soccer team has odds of +4000 to win the entire tournament, but +125 moneyline odds to advance to the round of 16 as the winner out of Group A.