MOSCOW, October 26. /TASS/. Fifteen people have been brought to responsibility over violations in regard to the use of a Fan-ID card, which is required to attend matches of the Russian Premier League (RPL), Russian First Deputy Sports Minister Azat Kadyrov said on Wednesday.

"As of today we have issued some 300,000 Fan-IDs," he said. "The use of fireworks decreased by 98%. Fifteen people were held accountable for violating regulations of the Fan-ID cards’ possession; four people were brought to responsibility for being under alcoholic intoxication. One fifth of our football fans are children under the age of 14."

Kadyrov also stated that only 30 out of all applied requests to obtain Fan-IDs were rejected since the system was introduced earlier in the year.

"We have registered only 30 refusals as of today," he said. "One should draw a clear division line either between the full rejection or rejection due to an incorrect provision of the required data."

"It should rather go to the necessity of the correct provision of the applied personal data and a format of uploaded personal pictures upon the entrance of applications," Kadyrov continued.

"We had multiple issues initially, because the system could not accept a personal picture uploaded, but today we have upgraded this system," he added.

Fan-ID registration with Gosuslugi, Russia’s state-run web-portal providing various state services, is obligatory for everyone wishing to buy a ticket to attend any football match of the Russian Premier League (RPL). It has been also stated previously that Fan-IDs must be issued to everyone wishing to be present at stadiums during matches, including football fans, organizers, participants of the tournaments and media representatives.

On December 30, 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law a draft on the introduction of Fan-ID documents, which will be required for fans to attend sports tournaments in the country starting from June 1, 2022.

Russia’s Fan-ID was successfully tested during the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup, as well as during the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and earned high marks from the world’s governing football body - FIFA. The Fan-ID system was also in place during matches of the 2020 UEFA Euro Cup in St. Petersburg.

A Fan-ID holder was allowed to enter the country without having a Russian visa and stay for the duration of global football tournaments. Fan-IDs were obligatory, in addition to purchased tickets, in order to attend football matches.