Communist Party of Russia Claims National Team Need “Stalinist Mobilisation” After Wales Defeat

The Communist Party of Russia has claimed that the national team need "a Stalinist mobilisation" to help them find "mental, physical, hard strength" after losing 3-0 to Wales on Monday evening.

Russia end their Euro 2016 campaign bottom of Group B, having picked up only a single point from their three games at the tournament. Leonid Slutsky has offered to resign as manager in the aftermath of Monday's match, while several players could be seen apologising to supporters at the final whistle.

Figures from across the Russian political spectrum have been quick to criticise the team, not least the Communists. The Guardian reports that Communist MP and party leader Gennady Zyuganov has asked: "Why does the national team perform like this, when 11 millionaires are running around the field with half-bent legs, who want to earn a lot of money and don't want to work like a real athlete should?"

The Communists have also claimed that the national team is as "soft" as Vladimir Putin's United Russia party, and fit "for internal use" only. All of Russia's Euro 2016 squad play their club football in the Russian Premier League, with the exception of Schalke's Roman Neustädter.

Meanwhile Vladimir Zhirinovsky, leader of the nationalist LDPR party, has a very different view of the situation. He has claimed that Wales won "because they're nationalists", fired up by the injustice of English oppression.

He suggested that the national team should recruit players from the regions of eastern Ukraine currently under the control of Russian-backed separatists. "They'll win any championship," he said. "We need people who are pissed off, and namely with a national motive."