Police will issue England fans with a guide to “sensitive sites” in Volgograd and warn them not to sing inappropriate songs around them or to hang flags on them to avoid provoking a violent reaction from locals.
Between 7,000 and 10,000 England supporters are expected to travel to Russia for the World Cup, around 2,000 of whom have tickets for the first group match against Tunisia in Volgograd, formerly known as Stalingrad.
Police are cautiously confident the relative high cost of travelling to Russia coupled with visa requirements and football banning orders will avoid a repeat of the violent clashes which marred Euro 2016 in France and left two England fans seriously injured.
A team led by chief inspector Joseph Stokoe travelled to Volgograd in February to discuss security with local police, who promised the country wanted to host a “festival of football”. But fans will be encouraged to modify their behaviour around historical monuments in the city, many of which pay tribute to the estimated 1.8m who lost their lives in the Battle of Stalingrad, the bloodiest battle of the second world war.
“It’s fine to hang flags in the stadium,” Stokoe said, “or in a pub where you are paying customers and the owner is OK with it.”
Mark Roberts, the national lead for football policing, said fans should steer clear of displaying flags on the street, particularly given the current political tensions between Russia and the west. “Any student of history will know that the Russian casualties at the Battle of Stalingrad were horrific,” he said.
“The memorials there are particularly sensitive and I’m asking fans to show cultural awareness. Flags are an interesting issue. People should be really careful with flags. It can come across as almost imperialistic and it can cause antagonism.”
England’s third group game against Belgium, which could decide whether they advance to the knockout stage of the tournament, has been identified by many as a potential flashpoint for fan violence. It will be held in Kaliningrad, a Russian outpost which has a land border with Poland. But Roberts warned fans planning to travel into Russia that way could be left disappointed.
“I predict there will be a number of fans who get only as far as the queue for the border,” he said. “It will not be porous, it will be just as difficult to access as the other two group matches. We’ve been told that fans can expect a minimum of a four-hour queue at the border even with fan ID.”
The police will be sending a team of spotters out to Russia to engage with fans, warn them when their behaviour risks provoking a negative reaction and identify known troublemakers. Individuals who already have football banning orders, currently 1,751 people, will be unable to travel and have been told to hand their passports to police by 4 June at the latest.