UEFA on Wednesday charged Lokomotiv Moscow midfielder Dmitry Tarasov with improper conduct after he stripped off to reveal a t-shirt supporting Russian President Vladimir Putin in a politically charged gesture after a match in Turkey.
Tarasov revealed the t-shirt of Putin wearing a Navy cap above the words "the most polite president" in Russian after his team's 2-0 Europa League loss against Fenerbahce in Istanbul on Tuesday, as Moscow and Ankara are locked in a fierce dispute following the downing of a Russian fighter jet last year. European football's governing body said that it would hold a hearing into the incident on March 17, with Tarasov facing a potentially lengthy ban under a rule forbidding players to display any "political, religious, personal slogans, statements". Lokomotiv also sought to distance themselves from Tarasov's actions and insisted they would punish the player. "The footballer did not let anybody in on his plans. His initiative was inappropriate and harmful both for the club and for himself," the club said in a statement. "Tarasov will be punished according to the conditions stipulated in his contract."
The player himself, however, appeared unrepentant over the furore caused by the t-shirt, insisting he backed Russian strongman Putin but did not want to upset anyone. "He's my president, I respect him and decided to show that I'm with him everywhere," the R-Sport agency quoted Tarasov as saying.
The player, who will miss the second leg of the last-32 tie with Fenerbahce in Moscow after being cautioned in the match in Istanbul, defiantly vowed to wear another t-shirt with Putin's image for his next appearance on the football pitch. "I didn't mean to abuse anybody or provoke," Tarasov said in an interview with the Lifenews TV channel. "There's nothing so terrible about what I did and people with sense, I believe, understand this clearly.
"Probably after the next match you will see me wearing another t-shirt with Putin's image and a different slogan." The words on the t-shirt shown in Istanbul were a reference to the euphemism for the Russian soldiers who carried out the annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. They are known as "polite people".
Relations between Russia and Turkey have been in tatters since Ankara shot down one of Moscow's fighter jets on the border with Syria in November, sparking a bitter war of words between Putin and his counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Tarasov's t-shirt incident sparked anger in the Turkish press, with the two countries also on opposing sides over the conflict in neighbouring Syria. "A Putin provocation from a Russian footballer," fumed the pro-government Yeni Safak daily on Wednesday. There were no reports of any serious trouble between home and visiting fans but the bus carrying Lokomotiv supporters to the stadium was reportedly attacked by Fenerbahce fans, who threw stones at their Russian counterparts.