Daily Times

MOSCOW: Victoria Lopyreva, glamorous ambassador for the soccer World Cup in Russia and a former Miss Russia, urged England fans on Tuesday to ignore politics and travel to Moscow to support their team in Wednesday’s semi-final against Croatia. The number of England fans in Russia has been low amid diplomatic tension over the poisoning of a Russian former double-agent and his daughter, and now the death of a woman who police say was poisoned with same nerve agent. There were also fears before the event that there could be violence, but there has been no major incident. “Soccer is separate from politics because people who work in politics should concentrate on politics, and people who work in soccer should concentrate on soccer,” Lopyreva said.

Published in Daily Times, July 11^th 2018.