Russia striker Artem Dzyuba on Tuesday hit out at English fans following trouble in Marseille, saying that they were being depicted as “angels” and that there were political motivations for blaming Russian supporters.
The Zenit St Petersburg forward spoke after Uefa warned Russia they would be kicked out of Euro 2016 if their fans caused one more incident of stadium trouble during the tournament.
Fighting marred Saturday’s 1-1 draw between Russia and England at Marseille’s Stade Velodrome, which followed confrontations on the streets of the southern French city.
“I don’t really understand this kind of reaction of the British media. We have this impression that English supporters are like angels coming to this country and behaving themselves,” Dzyuba said, angrily refuting claims from England that Russian hooligans were to blame.
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Russian fans crossed security barriers inside the Stade Velodrome and attacked England fans. Dozens of English supporters, including women and children, had to flee across security barriers to escape.
But Dzyuba indicated that England fans were equally to blame for the violence and that there was a campaign to take the 2018 World Cup away from the country.
“I cannot affirm it, but it is possible, it is probable. We see the things that the British media are talking about, about the 2018 World Cup and that it should be taken away from Russia, so these are thoughts I have sometimes.
“It is 50-50 and in every conflict there are two parts. I am not saying only Russians are at fault,” added Dzyuba, who spoke in Lille, where Russia face Slovakia in their second Group B game on Wednesday.
Local authorities are fearful of more trouble in the northern city, especially as England fans are set to gather there ahead of their match with Wales on Thursday in the much smaller town of Lens, just down the road.
“Please can we talk about the game,” he appealed. “This is not a street-fighting championship, this is football.
“We have already said several times that we hope the fans will behave properly.
“Our supporters have to focus on just supporting us and we will try to show our best qualities. We want to play this competition.
“We are happy to be here and it will be a big disappointment if we go out.”
Russia coach Leonid Slutsky appeared unwilling to overtly condemn any involvement of Russian fans in last weekend’s violence. He was also confident that Uefa would not follow through on any threat to kick them out of the tournament.
“We are sure that we are not going to be kicked out. There is not going to be any injustice,” said Slutsky.
“We would like to repeat we are sure that our supporters will not do the same and will not give any reasons to disqualify our team.
“We do not know what happened on the streets of course, but when the Russian national anthem was played there were England supporters shouting.
“This was unethical as were all the gestures we received from England fans on the way to the stadium.
“There are some people who come to the game to watch and others who come to behave as badly as possible.”
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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