Russian minister urges fans to show respect in Moscow

By Mike Collett

LONDON (Reuters) - The Russian government urged English fans on Thursday to "show respect" to their hosts when they go to Moscow in their thousands next week for the Champions League final between Manchester United and Chelsea.

Newly-appointed Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said that more than 6,000 police and additional officers from the internal military force would be policing the event which is likely to be attended by nearly 50,000 English fans.

He promised there would be no "heavy-handed" policing of the type previously witnessed by English fans in Spain and Italy and said the authorities would act to ensure there were no attacks on fans in revenge for the stabbing of a Russian at Wednesday night's UEFA Cup final between Rangers and Zenit St Petersburg in Manchester.

Mutko, who had been at the UEFA Cup final and flown back to Moscow overnight, was speaking to United and Chelsea fans via a live video call between Moscow and London.

"I urge you to respect our customs and the people who live in the city. In football there is always a winner and a loser and I ask the losing fans, who will obviously be disappointed, to behave.

"You cannot predict what can happen in football but we will make sure that our guests will be taken care of, that they feel safe and feel our hospitality and have a great time.

"We will do everything we can to ensure the police and military will act in a proper and calm way. We will also make sure there will be no revenge attacks from hooligans."