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Putin thanks fans and volunteers for helping making festival of football out of World Cup

"Some fans are emotional, but as it turned out they are responsible people. I was even surprised to see it", he told journalists after the World Cup final match

© Michail Metzel/TASS

MOSCOW, July 15. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has thanked all, from football fans to volunteers, who helped make a real festival of football of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

"Some fans are emotional, but as it turned out they are responsible people. I was even surprised to see it," he told journalists after the World Cup final match. "I am very thankful to them. I want to thank them for their attitude to this event."

He said that it was thanks to fans that the world championship had become a real festival of football.

He offered special thanks to the "coaches and specialists, to the team," who "inspired all the fans to take football as a festival."

The Russian president also thanked organizers. "Hundreds, if not thousands, of volunteers were engaged in all the host cities. I would like to thank them as well, because they welcomed out guests, accompanies them, with the smile on their faces, always kind-heartedly. Everybody say that," Putin noted, adding that the page where Russia is pictured as a hostile country and its citizens as gloomy and unfriendly people should be turned over.

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