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Sensational World Cup surprised many, but were smoke and mirrors at play?

Who would have thought that a completely trouble-free World Cup would take place in one of the most repressive regimes in the modern world?

However, was the well-organised and feel-good FIFA spectacle a result of such oppression from above?

It was like a scene from the Rio carnival, except at 3am in a city that had been closed to foreigners until the early 1990’s.

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A Nizhny Novgorod late-night bar was full to the brim with foreigners. As a result, the party moved to the street, with cars actually abandoned as drivers joined in the fun.

“I cannot believe this is happening in Russia,” I said to some students, hoping they’d understand English.

“Neither can we. This is not normal, we can tell you,” came the riposte.

Happy man: Vladimir Putin will be over the moon with the world’s reaction to the Russia World Cup
Happy man: Vladimir Putin will be over the moon with the world’s reaction to the Russia World Cup

A repeat of the awful scenes in Marseille two years ago was expected to be common place in Russia this summer, with bloodthirsty hooligans waiting with bated breath for English fans in particular to test them.

However, not even the slightest skirmish took place. On the night of the final there was a little apprehension that the positive feeling might be ruined by a group of “angry protesters” in Red Square, but it turns out they just wanted their ball back.

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This image of Russia being a safe haven, though, remains a far cry from the deep-rooted repression still prevalent in everyday life. The sheer volume of political prisoners cannot be overlooked, with one especially garnering much attention worldwide.

Germany and France have both put pressure on president Vladimir Putin to release political prisoner Oleg Sentsov – who vehemently opposed the annexation of his native Crimea, and was sent to prison on flimsy terrorism charges – but Putin has not budged, even with Sentsov into 60 days of a hunger strike.

Pussy Riot staged another prominent protest against Putin and Russian authorities
Pussy Riot staged another prominent protest against Putin and Russian authorities

Putin has also used the World Cup as a distraction to make some unpopular welfare changes, such as raising the pension age by five years, just because he can, meaning his approval ratings plummeted. Protests, less profile than Pussy Riot’s World Cup final intervention, have become common place.

But it is the violence, or lack of it, that has really surprised the fans who ignored the negative narrative and travelled to the world’s largest country.

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“We want to welcome guests and have fun, we are normal people,” member of FC Volga Ultras Artem Sirotkin told Yahoo Sport earlier in the tournament. “But something could still happen, if hooligans want to risk it with the police.”

The police Sirotkin is referring are the FSB – the successors to the KGB. Before the tournament, it is not secret the Federal Security Service visited all the well-known hooligans and warned them of the consequences if they showed their faces, with hooligans in turn passing the message on to their respective groups.

“The hooligans do not go away, our groups are still here,” Sirotkin added.

Fears of scenes like this one failed to play out
Fears of scenes like this one failed to play out

Police themselves took a very passive role. Even when fans started to sing in the street, the police did not even so much as tell them to keep the noise down – incongruous with the heavy-handed force they have used in the past.

In fact, footage has emerged on social media of a policeman admitting he would love it to still be “1937” and able to therefore carry out Joseph Stalin’s purges on protestors, but even the law is not adverse to punishment that would be handed out should anything tarnish the image of the Russia Putin is trying to create.

“We are pleased that the world is seeing Russia for what it is – a friendly place,” music producer and Moscow resident Yana Smelkov tells Yahoo Sport.

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“We are more civilised than many in the west think – we are just like you. The people here are very friendly and welcoming, but what you see from the authorities is not all a true reflection.

“For example, there are recycle bins everywhere in Russia at the moment – this is Russia, we do not recycle. I am not even sure where the recycling would go.

“The police? Lets just say this is not what they are really like.”


Everything ran like clockwork at the World Cup. Security has been super tight, and there is no shortage of staff to help out fans and journalists with any problem whatsoever. The tournament has been near-perfect.

But for the droves of fans, journalists and officials leaving Russia after a thoroughly enjoyable spectacle, there are some who have delved a little deeper who are feeling a little bewildered as to whether smoke and mirrors were at play.

No expense was spared to ensure Russia capitalised on the opportunity to show it had developed fully out of the Soviet era, and it was no different to the rest of the west. Mission accomplished indeed, but was it a true representation of Putin’s superpower? Not quite.