Euro 2016: France deports Russia fan chief Shprygin

Alexander Shprygin and a group of other Russia fans flew from Nice to Moscow on Saturday

The Russian football fans' leader Alexander Shprygin has arrived back in Moscow with 19 other supporters after being deported from France.

This follows violence at the England-Russia match in Marseille last week.

Mr Shprygin has told news agencies that all of them plan to return to France for Monday's match against Wales.

His All-Russia Supporters' Union is backed by the Kremlin. He is reported to hold far-right views and has been photographed giving a Nazi salute.

Mr Shprygin was among 43 Russian fans detained on Tuesday en route to Lille to watch Russia's second game of the Euro 2016 championship, against Slovakia.

More than 12 other Russians arrested following the trouble in Marseille have been freed.

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But three detained Russian fans have been given jail sentences of up to two years over the Marseille violence. Six English fans were jailed for up to six months.

'A disgrace'

Mr Shprygin arrived back on a flight from Nice to Moscow on Saturday.

The arrests have angered the Russian government, which summoned the French ambassador to protest.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday called the fighting "a disgrace" but added that he did not "understand how 200 of our fans could beat up several thousand English fans".

Trouble flared at a football game between England and Russia on 11 June

He called on Russian fans to behave appropriately when they face Wales on Monday.

"I hope that there are sober-minded people among them who really love sport and understand that any violation is not supporting their favourite team but damaging to the team and to sport," Mr Putin said.

French officials blamed a group of 150 Russian hooligans for the trouble on 11 June. They said they have viewed more than 200 hours of footage but were unable to identify all those responsible.

Russia and England fans clashed before and after the two teams played last Saturday.

Afterwards, Russia was hit with a fine and a suspended disqualification, meaning the team will be thrown out of the Euro tournament if their fans cause more trouble inside stadiums.

Separately, Marseille prosecutor Brice Robin said he was investigating an attack on two England fans ahead of the 1-1 draw with Russia as attempted murder.