Vladimir Putin slams Russian players after $369,000 night out

A lavish party attended by Russia players at a Monte Carlo nightclub has been branded a "shamelss display of conceit" by a spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Aleksandr Kokorin

. Source: Getty Images



Footage of national team players Aleksandr Kokorin and Pavel Manaev, fresh from Russia's calamitous first round EURO 2016 exit, shows the pair surrounded by champagne and sparklers as the Russian national anthem plays in the background.

It has been reported the players ordered 500 bottles of Armand de Brignac Champagne and spent a total of $369,000 (€250,000) on drinks at the Twiga nightclub. 

Both players denied the incident but it didn't stop their club teams, FC Krasnodar and Zenit St Petersburg, demoting them to the youth team and fining them.
Kokorin claimed the videos were just a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time 

"Somebody was celebrating their birthday and and we were simply there. Naturally, everybody saw the bottles and heard the Russian anthem, but why put all this on us,' he told Sports.RU.

Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov, attacked the party's shos of "conceit", but also pointed to mixed reports surrounding the incident.
"It first needs to be established if this conceited disgrace was paid for by our footballers of by someone else...If it was done by the players themselves, let God judge them," he said.

After a poor EURO 2016 campaign which included a draw with England and losses to Slovakia and Wales, Russia has face public backlash with Russian fans frustrated at the performance of their national team.

"Dumb disgraceful cynics... this national team must be disbanded," a Russia fan said on social media.

"What a disgrace to the national anthem, I have no words."  


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2 min read
Published 7 July 2016 11:00am
Updated 7 July 2016 11:20am
Source: SBS


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