MINSK: Belarus police detained scores of Ukrainian and Belarussian football fans who shouted patriotic Ukrainian slogans and chanted abuse against Russian President Vladimir Putin at a match, a rights organisation and local media said on Friday. Fans could be heard chanting an abusive anti-Putin refrain on a video clip before the Euro 2016 qualifier started, while witnesses said there were calls during the match of “Glory to the Heroes!” and “Glory to Ukraine!” — stock Ukrainian rallying cries in Kiev’s conflict against Russian-backed separatists. Putin, who was in Minsk today for a summit of leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States, is a reviled figure in Kiev since Russia annexed Crimea in March and threw its support behind separatists fighting government forces in eastern Ukraine. The Minsk-based human rights group Vesna-96 said about 40 people had been held.
A Belarussian police spokesman, Konstantin Shalkevich, confirmed some supporters had been detained, but he would not say how many. (PTI)
