Russian hooligans are neo-Nazis hooked on violence and crystal meth out to wage war on England fans at Euro 2016 in France
Mob leaders are so powerful they meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin: now they want more violence
THEY were the Red Army of thugs who terrorised England fans in Marseilles.
Now the 150-strong drug-fuelled mob are heading to Lille and Lens, ready to unleash more savagery on Three Lions and Welsh supporters heading for Thursday’s Euro 2016 game.
And as Roy Hodgson and Wayne Rooney called for cool heads after Uefa’s threat to boot England out of the tournament, The Sun can reveal how the neo-Nazi mob linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin plan to cause yet more carnage.
In a terrifying expose, we can reveal:
How fighters head to training camps to prepare for mass brawls at tournaments
That racist yobs pick targets for no reason other than their skin colour.
Why mob leaders are so powerful they meet with Putin to discuss plans.
And how the deadly drug crystal meth, which makes users fearless, is part of their daily routine.
The Russian gangs are centred around six clubs — Moscow sides Spartak, CSKA, Dynamo, Torpedo and Lokomotiv plus Zenit St Petersburg.
Many of these outfits have more than one firm, with sinister names like the Mad Butchers, the Gladiators and the Clockwork Oranges.
Leaders include heavily tattooed Vasily ‘The Killer’, a 36-year-old Spartak hooligan pictured at the centre of the violence in Marseilles.
Their grip on Russian football is total. On the terraces thugs — many of them linked to far-right groups — sing: “There are new kids on the block, and they are determined to be top dogs. Be warned, the Russians are coming.”
Riot police often battle yobs using water cannon and tear gas. Just weeks ago 13 hooligans were arrested after a horrifying mass brawl following a game in Rostov-on-Don, around 600 miles south of Moscow.
In 2010 a Spartak fan was killed in a brawl with supporters of a rival group.
Following his death 5,000 hooligans held a rally in the capital, ending in mass violence against police.
Eventually, Putin was forced to meet with leading thugs to discuss a peaceful resolution.
Now it is feared the rival firms have put aside their differences and joined up to cause maximum damage at the Euros.
Thugs wearing black T-shirts carrying the names of the Lokomotiv and CSKA sides led the violence in Marseilles, while Zenit supporters were also said to be involved in the fray.
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Football violence expert Dr Geoff Pearson, a professor of law at the University of Manchester, said: “These thugs are clearly a very dangerous group and will have been planning these attacks for a long time.
“They had the same black shirts on, there were fireworks set off as a signal for violence to begin, and even reports that some Russian thugs wore England shirts to help infiltrate the opposition area.
Given that level of organisation, I’d be almost certain Russian hooligan groups were working together on this.”
Back in March, Russian ultras posted a video online showing a hooligan training camp where yobs gathered in a rural location to practice mass disorder.
After splitting into two baying mobs, the groups wade into each other punching and kicking in a brutal two-minute bout.
The clip was posted online with the warning: “We are hard men, many from the army and police. Not soft English men in their Lacoste clothes and girls’ shoes. We fight in the woods and train and fight at matches. England fans will have no chance. Russia is number one.”
Pictures posted on pro-hooligan websites ahead of the tournament show thugs packing long, serrated ‘zombie knives’ and knuckledusters into their suitcases.
Many give themselves an advantage with a substance even more deadly than a blade — lethal drug crystal meth.
The drug helps yobs work themselves into a fury before launching attacks of staggering brutality.
Many England fans reported seeing Russians snorting a substance thought to be methamphetamine before violence erupted on Saturday.
Dr Pearson explained: “For Russian firms, there’s real prestige to getting in a fight with England fans.
“A lot of that is because of the amount of trouble English supporters were involved in back in the 1980s — that reputation hasn’t gone away among foreign football hooligans.”
Russian thugs approached by The Sun agreed.
Nikolai Soev, 20, from Moscow, said: “Everyone has their own personal enemies.
“English fans — just like the rest of Britain — are Pakistani, and guess what? We don’t like them.”
Pictures on Russian hooligan social media groups show a bloodstained England flag, while battered Three Lions fans were left with calling cards reading ‘RIP English Hooligans’.
The ultra movement has links to far-right politics, with gangs storming trains before beating any black or Asian passengers.
Now cops say there is a ‘high risk’ of violence around Lille — where Russia play Slovakia tomorrow. England face Wales just 20 miles away in Lens the following day.
Pearson added: “If the police aren’t successful in stopping the violence, Wales may well be the next targets.”
