A notorious far-right activist who has been photographed giving a Nazi salute is travelling with the official Russian FA delegation at Euro 2016 and was in Marseille at the weekend as clashes erupted between Russian and English fans.

Anti-racism groups have raised serious concerns over the fact that Alexander Shprygin apparently holds official accreditation with the Russia team’s entourage at the tournament. He also joined a Russian delegation that toured France’s host cities in March.

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Amid the fallout from the weekend’s violence in Marseille, which has led to Russia and England being warned they could be kicked out of the tournament, the organisation employed by Uefa to monitor racism within stadiums has identified Shprygin as one of the leading figures in introducing neo-Nazi views and practices to the Russian supporter scene since the late 1990s.

Shprygin is considered by the Fare network, which provides official observers at matches for Uefa and Fifa, to be a leading light in Russia’s network of extreme-right ultra fan groups. Piara Powar, the network’s executive director, said that the presence of Shprygin within the official party raised wider concerns about “the apparent nexus of high-level politicians, far-right leaders and extreme nationalism” in Russian football ahead of the 2018 World Cup that will be hosted in the country.

Shprygin has been photographed performing a Nazi salute with a singer from a notorious Russian far-right rock band, Korrozia Metalla, some of whose songs are banned and included in the federal list of extremist materials in Russia for inciting inter-ethnic hatred.

Since forming the Russian Supporters Union in 2007, Shprygin has appeared to tone down his rhetoric. But he outraged many when he recently said he wanted to “see only Slavic faces in the Russian national team” and suggested there was “something wrong” with a team photo posted on Twitter by France player Mathieu Valbuena because it contained “very many” black faces.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Alexander Shprygin, centre, pictured with Vitaly Mutko and Vladimir Putin in 2010. Photograph: Alexei Nikolsky/AP

He said in the same interview: “Of course, when in 2018 the team will play at home in the World Cup, and before the start of the match, our national anthem will play, and 11 fellows will be proud to stand and sing along and tears will roll down their cheek, causing a feeling of patriotism, I would like these players to have Slavic faces.”

A Dynamo Moscow fan, Shprygin works as an assistant to the politician Igor Lebedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s parliament, who also attracted controversy for a series of tweets on Sunday in which he offered support to the Russian fans. “I don’t see anything wrong with the fans fighting,” he wrote. “Quite the opposite, well done lads, keep it up!”

Lebedev added: “I don’t understand those politicians and officials who are criticising our fans. We should defend them and then we can sort it out when they come home.

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“In nine out of 10 cases football fans go to games to fight, and that’s normal. The lads defended the honour of their country and did not let English fans desecrate our motherland.

“What happened in Marseille and in other French towns is not the fault of fans but about the inability of police to organise this kind of event properly.”

Russian reports said Shprygin was “congratulated” by a Russian sports minister, Vitaly Mutko, after the England game. “As for the fight, we didn’t speak about that at all. Mutko just congratulated us on the victory and didn’t even mention it,” Shprygin is quoted as saying.

Mutko sits on the Fifa council and is pivotal in delivering the 2018 World Cup in Russia. The minister, who was filmed applauding Russian fans after the match and after the incident in which England fans fled the stands in panic, initially appeared to play down the clashes but later admitted that some fans had brought “shame on the country”.

Another notorious figure who was identified at the match was Alexander Rumyantsev, known as Makasin. It is not clear whether he also had official accreditation.

Rumyantsev was the former leader of the Zenit Landskrona, the fans’ group that released the notorious Manifesto 12 in 2012 in which they demanded that no black or gay players be signed by the club Zenit St Petersburg. Shprygin did not endorse the “manifesto” openly but in an interview called it “an ideal case image”.

On Sunday night Shprygin claimed in a tweet that the Russian supporters union’s hotel had been raided and that 40 armed French police had stormed their rooms, taken their passport details and photographed everyone.

It is believed that Fare made representations to Uefa in May when it became clear that Shprygin was likely to be officially accredited. Fare believes Fifa also has questions to answer, given that Shprygin sits on the local organising committee for the World Cup in Moscow.

Uefa said: “All accreditation applications are screened by the police but we can’t comment on individual cases for data protection reasons.”

A senior source insisted that Shprygin had not been accredited through Uefa.

Others in Marseille said they had received multiple reports of Russians with official accreditation handing out tickets to apparent ultras before the match.

Shprygin is reported to have organised a charter flight from Moscow for members of the RSU, with six of those onboard being refused entry to France.

Shprygin had joined an official tour of host cities in March. Delegations from Toulouse and Marseille refused to meet him after he and his associates had met officials from Lille, from which he tweeted pictures of his meeting with police chiefs.

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“Shrypgin’s involvement and recognition as a fan leader speaks volumes about the positioning and influence of the far-right within the Russian fan scene,” said Powar. “But it just isn’t acceptable with all of the challenges that European football faces to have people like him holding office and influence in a country that will host the World Cup in two years.”

There are fears over the potential for fresh violence, with Russia fans heading for Lille before the match with Slovakia on Wednesday and England fans without tickets for their match with Wales on Thursday officially advised to go to the city and watch in the fanzone.

Brice Robin, the chief Marseille prosecutor, told reporters that no Russian fans had been arrested in connection with the violence. He said about 150 Russian hooligans had been involved in the trouble. But only two Russian fans had been arrested, both for pitch invasion, he said.

Six England fans had been charged over the trouble, including a 16-year-old accused of throwing bottles during chaotic scenes in which fans clashed with locals and police.

About 150 Russian fans attacked England supporters in the old port area on Saturday before kick-off. Inside the Stade Vélodrome there were chaotic scenes after the final whistle when Russian fans charged at the England contingent, causing them to flee.