Vladimir Putin: ‘Most polite President’ T-shirt sparks fury at soccer game

Tensions were raised in a politically charged European football match when a Russian player removed his shirt to display an image of Russian President Vladimir Putin following a Europa League match in Istanbul.

Lokomotiv Moscow midfielder Dmitri Tarasov revealed the picture of Putin following his side’s 2-0 defeat by Fenerbahce, with the Russian President depicted in a navy cap above the words: “The most polite President.”

“Polite people” was an expression used in Russia to describe the troops in unmarked uniforms who took control of Crimea during its annexation from Ukraine.

After Turkey shot down a Russian warplane near the Turkish-Syrian border in November tensions have been high between the two nations. The Europa League round-of-32 first leg was the biggest sporting encounter involving teams of the two countries since relations had deteriorated.

While his nation waded deeper into the Syrian civil war, Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, spent his 63rd birthday on the ice Wednesday, October 7, playing hockey with NHL stars and various Russian officials and tycoons in Sochi. For years, Russia's leader has cultivated a populist image in the Russian media.

Putin holds a cat as he inspects housing built for victims of wildfires in the village of Krasnopolye, in a region in southeastern Siberia, Russia, on Friday, September 4.

Putin, left, and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev jokingly toast at a lunch during a meeting at the Black Sea resort in Sochi, Russia, on Sunday, August 30.

Putin exercises during his meeting with Medvedev on August 30.

Putin sits in a bathyscaphe as it plunges into the Black Sea along the coast of Sevastopol, Crimea, on Tuesday, August 18. Putin went underwater to see the wreckage of an ancient merchant ship that was found in the end of May.

Putin holds a Persian leopard cub in February 2014 at a breeding and rehabilitation center in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. Perhaps the most important vote in Russia's public selection of a new Olympic mascot was cast when Putin said he wanted a funky leopard to represent the 2014 Sochi Winter Games.

Putin holds a pike he caught in the Siberian Tuva region of Russia on July 20, 2013.

Putin enjoys some fishing during his vacation to the Tuva region on July 20, 2013.

Putin submerges on board Sea Explorer 5 bathyscaphe near the isle of Gogland in the Gulf of Finland on July 15, 2013.

Putin studies a crane during an experiment called Flight of Hope on September 5, 2012, in which he piloted a hang glider, aiming to lead the birds into flight. It's part of a project to save the rare species of crane.

Putin takes part in a training session for young ice hockey players before the "Golden Puck" youth tournament final in Moscow on April 15, 2011.

Putin rides a Harley-Davidson to an international biker convention in southern Ukraine on July 14, 2010.

The Russian president aims at a whale with an arbalest (crossbow) to take a piece of its skin for analysis at Olga Bay on August 25, 2010.

A wetsuit-clad Putin embarks on a dive to an underwater archaeological site at Phanagoria on the Taman Peninsula on August 10, 2011.

Famed for his love of martial arts, Putin throws a competitor in a judo session at an athletics school in St. Petersburg on December 18, 2009.

Putin during his vacation in southern Siberia on August 3, 2009.

Putin swims the butterfly during his vacation outside the town of Kyzyl in southern Siberia on August 3, 2009.

Assisted by a Russian scientist, Putin fixes a satellite transmitter to a tiger during his visit to the Ussuriysky forest reserve of the Russian Academy of Sciences in the Far East on August 31, 2008.

Putin carries a hunting rifle in the Republic of Tuva on September 3, 2007.

A shirtless Putin fishing in the headwaters of the Yenisei River in the Republic of Tuva on August 13, 2007.

Putin in the cockpit of a Tupolev Tu-160 strategic bomber jet at a military airport on August 16, 2005, before his supersonic flight.

Cult of Putin

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UEFA confirmed to CNN that disciplinary proceedings have been opened following Tuesday’s game, with both Lokomotiv and Fenerbahce having been charged by European football’s governing body.

The Russian side has been charged with “improper conduct of Lokomotiv player Dmitry Tarasov after the match,” with UEFA rules stating that “players must not reveal undergarments that show political, religious, personal slogans, statements or images, or advertising other than the manufacturer logo.”

Fenerbahce, meanwhile, has been charged with having had “stairways blocked” in its Sukru Saracoglu Stadium.

Tarasov said he chose to wear the Putin T-shirt to show his “support” for the Russian President.

“It’s my president. I respect him and decided to show that I’m always with him and prepared to give my support,” Tarasov is widely reported as telling Russian news agency R-Sport.

“What was written on that shirt was everything that I wanted to say.”

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However,Tarasov’s action was labelled “a Putin provocation” by the Turkish media.

Despite Turkish-Russian tensions, UEFA has refused to separate the two nations in draws for the Europa League and Champions League, as well as for this summer’s Euro 2016, though last season Europe’s governing body kept Russian and Ukrainian clubs apart in European competition due to the political problems between the two neighbors.

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Fenerbahce won Tuesday’s clash thanks to two goals from Josef Souza.