MOSCOW: The Russian Football Union (RFU) on Tuesday fined former Russia striker Pavel Pogrebnyak 250,000 rubles ($3,900, 3,440 euros) for saying it was "ridiculous" that black footballers played for the national team.
The RFU said in a statement that Pogrebnyak, 35, was also given a suspended ban from all Russian football tournaments for the rest of the season, which would come into effect if he made any further discriminatory remarks.
"It’s ridiculous when a black player plays for the Russian national team," the 35-year-old Pogrebnyak said last week in an interview with the Komsomolskaya Pravda daily newspaper.