Luzhniki disaster
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The Luzhniki disaster was a deadly
human crush Crowd collapses and crushes are catastrophic incidents that can occur when a body of people becomes dangerously overcrowded. When a body of people reaches or exceeds the density of , the pressure on each individual can cause the crowd to collapse ...
that took place at the Grand Sports Arena of the
Central Lenin Stadium Luzhniki Stadium ( rus, стадион «Лужники», p=stədʲɪˈon lʊʐnʲɪˈkʲi, ''Stadion Luzhniki'') is the national stadium of Russia, located in its capital city, Moscow. The full name of the stadium is Grand Sports Arena of the ...
(russian: Большая спортивная арена Центрального стадиона им. В. И. Ленина, now known as
Luzhniki Stadium Luzhniki Stadium ( rus, стадион «Лужники», p=stədʲɪˈon lʊʐnʲɪˈkʲi, ''Stadion Luzhniki'') is the national stadium of Russia, located in its capital city, Moscow. The full name of the stadium is Grand Sports Arena of the ...
) in
Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
during the 1982–83 UEFA Cup match between
FC Spartak Moscow FC Spartak Moscow (russian: Футбольный клуб «Спартак» Москва, Futbolʹnyy klub «Spartak» Moskva, ) is a Russian professional football club based in Moscow. Having won 12 Soviet championships (second only to Dyna ...
and HFC Haarlem on 20 October 1982. According to the official enquiry, 66 FC Spartak Moscow
fans Fan commonly refers to: * Fan (machine), a machine for producing airflow, often used for cooling ** Hand fan, an implement held and waved by hand to move air for cooling * Fan (person), short for fanatic; an enthusiast or supporter, especially wit ...
, mostly
adolescents Adolescence () is a transitional stage of physical and psychological development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age of majority). Adolescence is usually associated with the te ...
, died in the stampede, which made it Russia's worst sporting disaster. The number of fatalities in this crush was not officially revealed until seven years later, in 1989. Until then, this figure varied in press reports from 3 to 340 fatalities. The circumstances of this disaster are similar to those of the second Ibrox disaster in Scotland.


Disaster


Match

On 20 October 1982, the weather in Moscow was snowy and extraordinarily cold for the middle of October, . There were 82,000 match tickets available, but because of the freezing weather conditions only about 16,500 tickets were sold. The Grand Arena of Central Lenin Stadium (also called Olympic Stadium) did not have a roof over the seating at the time (it was installed in the 1997 improvements). In preparation for the match, the stadium management decided to open only two of the four stands for fans: the East Stand ("C") and the West Stand ("A"), to have enough time to clean snow from the stands before the game. Each stand had seating for 23,000 spectators. Most of the fans (about 12,000) went to the East Stand, which was closer to the
Metro station A metro station or subway station is a station for a rapid transit system, which as a whole is usually called a "metro" or "subway". A station provides a means for passengers to purchase Train ticket, tickets, board trains, and Emergency eva ...
.The proportion of the spectators between the two stands could be seen by comparing photos of th
East Stand
and th
West Stand
Both photos were taken when the footballers were leaving the pitch after the game, i.e. approximately the time of the stampede on Stairway 1 underneath the East Stand.
There were approximately 100 Dutch supporters; the vast majority of fans in attendance were fans of Spartak Moscow. The match started at 7:00 pm. In the 16th minute, Spartak took the lead through an
Edgar Gess Edgar Yakovlevich Gess (russian: Эдгар Яковлевич Гесс; german: Edgar Hess; born 14 March 1954) is a Tajikistani-German football coach and a former Soviet player. He is the current head coach of the FK Andijan football club. Int ...
strike. The rest of the game was largely uneventful. Minutes before the end of the game, several hundred fans began to leave the stadium in an attempt to get to the Metro station ahead of the crowds. There are two covered stairways in the stadium under each stand, leading down to the exits. All of the exits at both stands were open. However, most of the fans from the East Stand rushed to Stairway 1, closer to the Metro station.


Crush

According to the witnesses who were interviewed during the investigation, one of the fans fell at the lower steps of Stairway 1. According to some reports, it was a young woman, who had lost her shoe on the stairs and stopped, trying to retrieve it and put it back on. A couple of people also stopped, trying to help the fan in need, but the moving dense crowd on the stairs, limited by metal banisters, crushed them down. People began to stumble over the bodies of those who were crushed in a
crowd collapse Crowd collapses and crushes are catastrophic incidents that can occur when a body of people becomes dangerously overcrowded. When a body of people reaches or exceeds the density of , the pressure on each individual can cause the crowd to collapse ...
. More and more mostly teenage fans were joining the crowd on the stairs, trying to push their way down and unaware of the tragedy unfolding below, which caused a pile-up of people. The stampede coincided with the second goal for Spartak, which was scored by
Sergei Shvetsov Sergei Aleksandrovich Shvetsov (russian: Серге́й Александрович Швецов) (born 7 December 1960 in Kutaisi) is a retired Soviet football player. He is probably most known for the goal he scored in the UEFA Cup game betwee ...
twenty seconds before the final whistle. The injured were taken by ambulances to the NV Sklifosovsky Scientific Research Institute of First Aid in Moscow. The next day
Yuri Andropov Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov (– 9 February 1984) was the sixth paramount leader of the Soviet Union and the fourth General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. After Leonid Brezhnev's 18-year rule, Andropov served in the po ...
(who replaced
Leonid Brezhnev Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev; uk, links= no, Леонід Ілліч Брежнєв, . (19 December 1906– 10 November 1982) was a Soviet Union, Soviet politician who served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Gener ...
as leader of the country, less than a month after this stampede) visited the institute and met several doctors and relatives of the injured. The bodies of the dead were taken to the Moscow
morgue A morgue or mortuary (in a hospital or elsewhere) is a place used for the storage of human corpses awaiting identification (ID), removal for autopsy, respectful burial, cremation or other methods of disposal. In modern times, corpses have cus ...
s for
autopsy An autopsy (post-mortem examination, obduction, necropsy, or autopsia cadaverum) is a surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse by dissection to determine the cause, mode, and manner of death or to evaluate any di ...
and
identification Identification or identify may refer to: *Identity document, any document used to verify a person's identity Arts, entertainment and media * ''Identify'' (album) by Got7, 2014 * "Identify" (song), by Natalie Imbruglia, 1999 * Identification ( ...
. Later the bodies were returned to the victims' relatives for burial. A total of 66 people died in this stampede, 45 of whom were teenagers as young as 14, including five women. According to the post-mortem examinations, all of the fatalities died of
compressive asphyxia Asphyxia or asphyxiation is a condition of deficient supply of oxygen to the body which arises from abnormal breathing. Asphyxia causes generalized hypoxia, which affects primarily the tissues and organs. There are many circumstances that can ...
. Another 61 people were injured, including 21 seriously. The Luzhniki Stadium tragedy was the Soviet Union's worst sporting disaster.


Aftermath


Investigation

A thorough investigation of the Luzhniki disaster corresponded with the new policies of
Yuri Andropov Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov (– 9 February 1984) was the sixth paramount leader of the Soviet Union and the fourth General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. After Leonid Brezhnev's 18-year rule, Andropov served in the po ...
, a former
KGB The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...
head, who became the leader of the country a month after the tragedy. He became known in the Soviet Union for his efforts to restore discipline at all levels of the society that had been loosened by the last years of Brezhnev's rule. On 17 December 1982, two months after the stampede, he even went as far as firing the interior minister
Nikolai Shchelokov Nikolai Anisimovich Shchelokov; uk, Микола Онисимович Щолоков ( – 13 December 1984) was a Soviet statesman and army general who served sixteen years as minister of internal affairs from 17 September 1966 to 17 Decembe ...
, the Soviet Union's top police officer, after learning of the corruption allegations against him. Shchelokov was later stripped of all state decorations, and committed suicide when he was about to go to trial. The criminal investigation of this disaster was launched by the Moscow Prosecutor's Office. Detective Aleksandr Shpeyer was appointed in charge of it. 150 witnesses were interviewed during the investigation. It produced 10 volumes of evidence, and took about three months to complete. On 26 November, one month after the disaster, the first criminal charges were made against Stadium Director Victor Kokryshev and Stadium Manager Yuri Panchikhin. They were detained and placed in
Butyrka prison Butyrskaya prison ( rus, Бутырская тюрьма, r= Butýrskaya tyurmá), usually known simply as Butyrka ( rus, Бутырка, p=bʊˈtɨrkə), is a prison in the Tverskoy District of central Moscow, Russia. In Imperial Russia it ...
.


Trial

Four officials were eventually charged in relation to this disaster: Stadium Director Victor Kokryshev, Stadium Manager Yuri Panchikhin, Stadium Deputy Director K. Lyzhin and the chief of the
police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...
guards at the East Stand, S. Koryagin. The trial of the first two was held on 8 February 1983, three and a half months after the tragedy. Both were found
guilty Guilty or The Guilty may refer to: * Guilt (emotion), an experience that occurs when a person believes they have violated a moral standard Law *Culpability, the degree to which an agent can be held responsible for action or inaction *Guilt (law) ...
of
negligence Negligence (Lat. ''negligentia'') is a failure to exercise appropriate and/or ethical ruled care expected to be exercised amongst specified circumstances. The area of tort law known as ''negligence'' involves harm caused by failing to act as a ...
and both were sentenced to three years of
imprisonment Imprisonment is the restraint of a person's liberty, for any cause whatsoever, whether by authority of the government, or by a person acting without such authority. In the latter case it is "false imprisonment". Imprisonment does not necessari ...
, the maximum penalty for a
crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definit ...
in the Soviet
Criminal code A criminal code (or penal code) is a document that compiles all, or a significant amount of a particular jurisdiction's criminal law. Typically a criminal code will contain offences that are recognised in the jurisdiction, penalties that migh ...
. However, Kokryshev (as a person previously decorated by the state) was eligible for a recent
amnesty Amnesty (from the Ancient Greek ἀμνηστία, ''amnestia'', "forgetfulness, passing over") is defined as "A pardon extended by the government to a group or class of people, usually for a political offense; the act of a sovereign power offici ...
(on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the creation of the USSR) and was released. For Panchikhin, according to the same amnesty rules, the sentence was halved. The other two officials, Deputy Director Lyzhin and police chief
Major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...
Koryagin, did not stand trial in February for medical reasons. Lyzhin, a
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
veteran, was admitted to the hospital after a
heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...
. Koryagin was badly injured during his attempt to prevent more people from going into the stampede. Later, both of them were given amnesty.


Memorial

In 1992, on the 10th anniversary of the disaster, and three years after the information about it was revealed to the public, a monument was erected near the site of the tragedy. On 20 October 2007, on the 25th anniversary, a memorial match was played at Luzhniki between the former players of FC Spartak Moscow and HFC Haarlem. The Luzhniki disaster is sometimes compared with the second Ibrox disaster. Both of the crushes happened at the end of the match, when a fall on the stairs of one of the spectators caused a chain-reaction pile-up. There was also the same number of fatalities in both crushes – 66, many of whom were youths. Furthermore, both crushes coincided with a last-minute goal on the pitch. The Luzhniki stadium has now been awarded the highest (4th) category status by
UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...
. It hosted the
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and the
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final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...
in
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.


Media coverage


Before 1989

The only information about the tragedy in the Soviet media immediately after the disaster was a short note in a local daily, ''
Vechernyaya Moskva ''Vechernyaya Moskva'' (russian: Вечерняя Москва, literally ''Evening Moscow'') is a Russian local newspaper published in Moscow since 6 December 1923 daily (except Saturday and Sunday). It was founded as an organ of the Mossovet, la ...
'', the next day. It said: On 21 and 24 October 1982, two Soviet
national National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...
sports newspapers – the daily ''
Sovetsky Sport , logo = SovSport.png , image = Sovetskiy Sport nameplate May 19 1988.png , caption = ''Soviet Sports'' nameplate on the May 19, 1988 issue , type = , format = , own ...
'' and weekly ''Football-Hockey'' – published detailed accounts of this match, but did not even mention any spectator accident. The article in ''Vechernyaya Moskva'' did not go unnoticed by the West. It was reproduced by the Italian news agency ''
ANSA Ansa (Latin for "handle") or ANSA may refer to: Organizations * Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata, Italian news agency ** Ansa Mediterranean or ANSAmed, section of the above * Applied Neuroscience Society of Australasia * Association of Norw ...
''. On 22 October, two days after the tragedy, ''
La Stampa ''La Stampa'' (meaning ''The Press'' in English) is an Italian daily newspaper published in Turin, Italy. It is distributed in Italy and other European nations. It is one of the oldest newspapers in Italy. History and profile The paper was fou ...
'' published a front-page article, where it revealed the information from the Soviet newspaper to its readers and speculated whether the word "casualties" should be understood as "injured" or "injured and killed". In this article ''La Stampa'' also said that the stampede was probably caused by the fall of a woman, although ''La Stampas source of that information is unclear, as this detail was not revealed by ''Vechernyaya Moskva''. On the next day, 23 October, Italian, Spanish and other Western newspapers stated that there were 3 people killed and 60 injured in this stampede, citing the Dutch journalists who were present at the match. They also mentioned, that, according to the Dutch journalists, both exits at the stand were open. According to ''
El País ''El País'' (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. ''El País'' is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA. It is the second most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . ''El Pa ...
'', the information about 3 fatalities and 60 injured was distributed by the Dutch news agency '' ANP''. Three days later, on 26 October ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' wrote that "more than 20 persons were killed and dozens were injured in a panic at Lenin Stadium". Ten days later, in the article published on 5 November 1982, ''
La Stampa ''La Stampa'' (meaning ''The Press'' in English) is an Italian daily newspaper published in Turin, Italy. It is distributed in Italy and other European nations. It is one of the oldest newspapers in Italy. History and profile The paper was fou ...
'' stated that "it seems that 72" people were killed and "at least 150" were injured in the Luzhiniki disaster, citing the unnamed "unofficial sources". By 1987, ''
El País ''El País'' (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. ''El País'' is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA. It is the second most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . ''El Pa ...
'' had lowered its number of estimated fatalities to 68. Until 1989, none of these figures were either confirmed or challenged by the Soviet officials. Soviet citizens were able to learn the details of this disaster only from the reports of the ''
Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is the state-owned news network and international radio broadcaster of the United States of America. It is the largest and oldest U.S.-funded international broadcaster. VOA produces digital, TV, and radio content ...
'' and other Western shortwave-radio broadcasters.


1989

The first publications in the Soviet Union about the number of fatalities of the Luzhniki tragedy appeared only after the introduction of the
Glasnost ''Glasnost'' (; russian: link=no, гласность, ) has several general and specific meanings – a policy of maximum openness in the activities of state institutions and freedom of information, the inadmissibility of hushing up problems, ...
policy by Soviet leader
Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet politician who served as the 8th and final leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...
at the end of the 1980s.


18 April

On 18 April 1989, seven years after the Luzhniki tragedy, ''
Sovetsky Sport , logo = SovSport.png , image = Sovetskiy Sport nameplate May 19 1988.png , caption = ''Soviet Sports'' nameplate on the May 19, 1988 issue , type = , format = , own ...
'' published a list of the football disasters in history, and mentioned the Luzhniki disaster among them. The journalists noticed that no information about the number of fatalities in Luzhniki had ever been revealed in the Soviet media and suggested that there were about 100 fatalities, without providing any reference. The information from this article was immediately reproduced by Italian, French, Spanish and other international media outlets.


8 July

Three months later, on 8 July 1989, ''Sovetsky Sport'' published another article, "Luzhniki's Dark Secret", which received even more publicity in the West. A pair of journalists admitted in the article that they were not familiar with the
archived An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials – in any medium – or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or ...
evidence from the criminal investigation and therefore they did not know even the number of fatalities. So, they loosely estimated it at 340 fatalities, citing the unnamed "parents of the children who died", but admitting that it is "an unverified figure". The journalists went further, accusing the police officers at the stadium of provoking this disaster and making some other allegations. Though full of numerous factual mistakes and fabricated details, this article immediately became a sensation in the Western media. ''
Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was estab ...
'', ''
Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
'', ''
Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse (AFP) is a French international news agency headquartered in Paris, France. Founded in 1835 as Havas, it is the world's oldest news agency. AFP has regional headquarters in Nicosia, Montevideo, Hong Kong and Washington, D.C ...
'', ''
UPI United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th c ...
'', and other
news agencies A news agency is an organization that gathers news reports and sells them to subscribing news organizations, such as newspapers, magazines and radio and television broadcasters. A news agency may also be referred to as a wire service, newswire, ...
replicated the news about the "340 fatalities" of the "worst-ever sporting disaster in the history". By the end of next day, ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'', ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'', ''
La Stampa ''La Stampa'' (meaning ''The Press'' in English) is an Italian daily newspaper published in Turin, Italy. It is distributed in Italy and other European nations. It is one of the oldest newspapers in Italy. History and profile The paper was fou ...
'', ''
la Repubblica ''la Repubblica'' (; the Republic) is an Italian daily general-interest newspaper. It was founded in 1976 in Rome by Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso (now known as GEDI Gruppo Editoriale) and led by Eugenio Scalfari, Carlo Caracciolo and Arnoldo ...
'', ''
Le Monde ''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...
'', ''
die Tageszeitung ''Die Tageszeitung'' (, “The Daily Newspaper”), is counted as being one of modern Germany's most important newspapers and amongst the top seven. taz is stylized as ''die tageszeitung'' and commonly referred to as ''taz'', is a cooperative-own ...
'', and other leading newspapers publicized this information all over the world.


20 July

Two weeks later, on 20 July 1989, the Soviet
newspaper of record A newspaper of record is a major national newspaper with large circulation whose editorial and news-gathering functions are considered authoritative and independent; they are thus "newspapers of record by reputation" and include some of the o ...
''
Izvestia ''Izvestia'' ( rus, Известия, p=ɪzˈvʲesʲtʲɪjə, "The News") is a daily broadsheet newspaper in Russia. Founded in 1917, it was a newspaper of record in the Soviet Union until the Soviet Union's dissolution in 1991, and describes ...
'' published an interview with a Detective Aleksandr Shpeyer, who was in charge of the 1982 investigation of the Luzhniki disaster. In this article, named "The Tragedy at Luzhniki: Facts and Fabrication", Detective Shpeyer provided various factual details of the disaster and revealed the real number of fatalities (66) and injured (61). When being asked, why this information was hidden from the public for so many years, Shpeyer replied that the Prosecutor's Office did not hide any information. The archives are open and any researcher could explore the evidence for themselves, after making an official, but simple request, the detective advised. Unlike the "dark secret" article of ''Sovetsky Sport'', the article in
broadsheet A broadsheet is the largest newspaper format and is characterized by long Vertical and horizontal, vertical pages, typically of . Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner (format), Berliner and Tabloid (newspaper format), ta ...
''Izvestia'' was hardly mentioned by the international media.


21 July

The next day, ''Sovetsky Sport'' in its
editorial An editorial, or leading article (UK) or leader (UK) is an article written by the senior editorial people or publisher of a newspaper, magazine, or any other written document, often unsigned. Australian and major United States newspapers, suc ...
admitted that its journalists, who wrote the sensational article two weeks earlier, had to use "conjectures" to provide details of this tragedy. At the same time, the editors expressed their satisfaction over the worldwide response evoked by their article. In a special press conference in Moscow in August 1989, the Moscow Prosecutor's Office confirmed that there had been 66 fatalities in the Luzhniki disaster.


27 September

On 27 September 1989, ''Sovetsky Sport'' finally admitted that information provided by their journalists "could not be confirmed" and that "emotions had prevailed over the facts". The author of this article, Vladimir Geskin, stated that "there were no reasons to doubt the results of the investigation", reported by ''Izvestia'' on 20 July.


Since 1989

Despite its refutation in 1989, the figure of 340 fatalities or its variations ("more than 300", "closer to 350", "hundreds", etc.), is still often reproduced by some international media. Other details from the "dark secret" article in ''Sovetsky Sport'' (e.g., that only one stand and one exit were opened for spectators, or that there was a head-on collision of two fans' crowds moving in the opposite directions after the second goal) also sometimes resurface in modern publications. In 2007 ''
NTV NTV may refer to: Television * NTV (Bangladesh), a Bengali-language satellite television channel in Bangladesh * NTV (India), Telugu regional channel * NTV (Kenya) * NTV (Mongolia), a television channel based in Mongolia * NTV (Newport Television) ...
'' aired its "Fatal Goal" (''Роковой гол'') documentary in Russia about the Luzhniki disaster. In 2008, ''
ESPN Classic ESPN Classic was an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns 20%). The channel was originally l ...
'' aired a Dutch documentary "Russian Night, the hidden football disaster" throughout Europe. The only book about this disaster, ''Drama in het Lenin-stadion'', was published in Dutch in the Netherlands in 2007. On 6 June 2018, in the run-up to the
2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...
, the British newspaper, ''
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...
'' published an article that suggested that the true scale of the disaster has been covered up by the Russian state and that the death toll was considerably higher than the official figure of 66. The article suggests that the tragedy was caused by police attempting to arrest Spartak fans who were singing "subversive" songs against the communist regime.


See also

* Second Ibrox disaster – in Glasgow, Scotland, on 2 January 1971.


Notes


References


External links


Luzhniki disaster fatalities list
with victims' photos and ages {{UEFA Europa League seasons Stadium disasters 1982 in Moscow 1982 in Soviet football 1982 in the Soviet Union 1982–83 in Dutch football 1982–83 in European football Man-made disasters in Russia Disasters in the Soviet Union FC Spartak Moscow Football in the Soviet Union HFC Haarlem Human stampedes in 1982 October 1982 events in Europe 1982–83 UEFA Cup 1982 disasters in Russia