(Newswire.net— June 12, 2018) — How dangerous are Russian Hooligans? According to a BBC documentary they are the worst kind of people you could hope to encounter.
The documentary in question by filmmaker Alex Stockley von Statzer follows events in Marseilles in 2016 when Russian hooligans clashed with their British counterparts. The filmmaker travelled to Russia prior to the World Cup to experience the country’s football fan culture first hand.
The documentary shows the Orel Butchers, a masked group of thugs presenting themselves as a “hooligan army”. Stockley meet with the man who is the group’s leader dubbed Dennis who revealed the sinister behavior of Russian hooligans aimed at foreigners. The film author then meet Vasiley “the Killer” Stepanov who said “Footbal hooligans are Putin’s vanguard that he sent to France to ‘take care’ of the British fans”. The documentary sparked fear for anyone even consider traveling to see the World Cup in Russia.
Following the same path, two filmmakers from ‘down under’ decided to join Orel Butchers and talk to Vasiley. What they discovered was disappointing.
Fascinated by BBC’s report on Russian hooligans who only wait to turn the World Cup into a “festival of violence,” the two goofy guys arrive at the same place the BBC crew filmed the Butchers who wore masks. The two Australian reporters started by putting on masks and then they entered the wolf den only to find out they were the only ones hiding their faces.
The scandalous 2017 documentary “Russia’s Hooligan Army” portrayed thugs who are set to kill without hesitation. However, “The Hooligans: Joining The Kremlin’s Football Army” mocumentary crew encounter heavily tattooed soccer fans who confirmed it was all BBC’s propaganda intended to undermine the biggest soccer event in the world and portray Russia as a country of wild savages. Also, the group laughed at idea that they have a person named Dennis leading them. “He never existed. He’s a character invented by the BBC,” they said.
Utterly disappointed, the two Australian filmmakers decided to give it one last shoot by meeting with the guy who allegedly spoke to BBC’s Alex Stockley about Putin’s hooligans, the statement heavily quoted in Western media. They meet with Vasiley “the killer” in a restaurant. Expecting a vicious hardcore criminal, filmmakers were met by a father of five kids who denies leading the Marseilles attack. Vasiley said he wasn’t even there.
“When those clashes happened in Marseille, I was here in Russia, at my country house,” Vasily said.
“They [western media] called me animal and evil,” Vasiley said. “The very next morning I took my kid to the kindergarten, and I saw other parents give me the weird look,” he continues.
Then one of the filmmakers said that it “can’t be true” because he saw Vasiley’s statement on the BBC documentary saying he is a part of the special hooligan army “sent by Vladimir Putin to conquer the Europe.”
“You are wrong,” Vasiley replied. “You are talking about the film they made for the BBC. I was just quoting headlines in the British media,” he stressed. “And then they edited this video to make it look like it was me saying that.”
The documentary ended with the message that the real “butchers” and “killers” are the journalists behind the fake BBC report.