England football fans travelling to the 2018 World Cup in Russia may be targeted in reprisal attacks after the Kremlin was accused of poisoning former spy Sergei Skripal, a senior Tory MP has claimed.
Tom Tugendhat, who chairs the foreign affairs select committee, warned that those travelling to Russia should be “very careful”.
Russian football fans have a history of targeting their English counterparts and Mr Tugendhat was concerned they may choose to use the recent accusations surrounding Mr Skripal’s poisoning as a reason to reignite violence.
Mr Skripal, a former Russian spy turned double agent, is in intensive care with his daughter, Yulia, after they were exposed to a nerve agent.
The attack has drawn immediate comparison to the murder of Alexander Litvinenko, who fell ill after ingesting radioactive polonium-210 believed to have been administered in a cup of tea.
Investigators are understood to be reviewing the death of Mr Litvinenko, a former officer in Russia’s security service, to see if there are any similarities between the modus operandi of that case and the attack on Mr Skripal.