Intro:

The head of Russia's football union said on Thursday (5th March) that the football federation are addressing the issue of racism in the country.

Script:

SOUNDBITE (Russian) Artur Grigoryants, Russian Football Union head:

"I would like to first of all point out that racism is not a systematic thing for Russia. In principle it's not characteristic for Russia or Russians. But in this case we are dealing with racism in soccer. That in our opinion is typical hooliganism that can't be accepted. We are not closing our eyes on cases of any sort of racist expression because it's not right in any sense. When taking decisions in such cases, the disciplinary committee will open a case if we can prove that there is racism in materials provided by officials, match protocols or delegates' reports. When the case is confirmed the disciplinary committee imposes sanctions on the clubs or individuals. "