Russian volleyball player claims he did not spit at Polish fan

A player of volleyball team Russia, Alexey Spiridonov, shared his impressions of the atmosphere around the world volleyball championship that ended in Poland.

According to Spiridonov, security accompanied him everywhere. "All the time, there were at least five cars! For every person in the team, there were armed men. I was at a restaurant once and a Polish man picked up on me. He was taken out."

The player spoke about manifestations of anti-Russian sentiment in Poland. "They would point fingers at our faces and shout all sorts of nastiness. I always thought the Poles were normal people. When we came to Poland with "Ural", everything was great," said Spiridonov.

After the match against Poland, which ended with a score of 3:2 in Poland's favor, the Russian player found himself in the center of a scandal. After the game, Spiridonov came up to a Polish fan and spat at him.

"I did not do anything to him, - said the victim. - All the fans were shouting "daswidania," there was no aggression from our side. Spiridonov was passing by and spat at me."

The player says that he did not spit at anyone, though. "Of course, I didn't do it! That is rubbish! I'd rather punch that deputy!" he said. The "victim" was a Polish MEP, a member of Law and Justice party, Marek Matuszewski. The player reportedly spat at him after the deputy shouted at the Russian players: "Give the Crimea back!"

The news about the incident appeared in Polish media.

"What deputy? What spit for Crimea? They killed me with those messages. This is nothing but rubbish. An idiot reported that and everyone else picked it up," the athlete said.

It was reported that the Russian Volleyball Federation will not punish Spiridonov for the act.