Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has commented on the incident, which occurred last Saturday in Moscow's suburb of Khimki. According to Medvedev, it was a "disgusting incident."
"A disgusting incident occurred at the Khimki Stadium during the match between Dynamo and Zenit. Dynamo's goalkeeper Anton Shunin suffered injuries. We should consider this together - what steps we should take to prevent this in the future - both in terms of law and of organization," wrote the Prime Minister on his page on Facebook.
The St. Petersburg team, however, believes that the responsibility for the accident lies entirely on the Moscow football club, the website of Zenit says. The messages posted on the official website of Zenit says that the club was not engaged in the sale of tickets for their fans in the sectors, from where the firecrackers flew. In addition, Zenit, being a guest team in Moscow, could not deal with inspection of football fans at the stadium doors.
On November 17, the fans of the St. Petersburg club started to use pyrotechnics during the game. They threw firecrackers on the field. One of them exploded near the goalkeeper of the Moscow team, Anton Shunin.
Law-enforcement officials said that it was female fans who threw the firecrackers on the football field. Moreover, the women managed to bring the firecrackers to the stadium inside their bodies. In one of the women's restrooms of the stadium, there were about 20 condoms found, in which, according to law enforcement officials, the women carried the firecrackers.
Earlier it was reported that all Zenit fans, who were arrested after the incident, were released. They all have already returned to St. Petersburg. Three female fans have been released as well. Surveillance cameras have not captured the moment when firecrackers were thrown, and police officers could not identify the perpetrator.
The injured goalkeeper, Anton Shunina, was taken to hospital, where the football player was diagnosed with a chemical burn of the cornea, eyelids and conjunctivas of both eyes. The man also suffered post-traumatic otitis of the right ear with hearing loss. Doctors advised goalkeeper should refrain from training for 10 days.