A special taskforce has been launched to tackle racism in Russian football, following a "banana scandal" involving Anzhi defender Christopher Samba.

      The Russian Football Union has decided to create a special workgroup based on a regular RFU's ethics committee. The body is set to address “racism, xenophobia and extremism.”

      The incident took place after Anzhi’s away game against Lokomotiv Moscow in the Russian Premier League. While the team from Makhachkala, who had lost 1-0, were leaving the pitch, one of the local fans threw a banana in the direction of Congolese Christopher Samba. The offender is still unknown.

      It's already the third episode of that kind in the Russian Premier League. The previous victim was Anzhi’s former captain Roberto Carlos back in 2011 in St Petersburg and Samara. In both cases the perpetrators were found and football clubs Zenit St. Petersburg and Krylya Sovetov Samara were each fined $10,000 because of their fans' actions.

      “I’m very upset that such misconduct took place in view of children who were sitting on those very stands", Christopher Samba said.

      Russia is set to host the 2018 World Cup, so there are some fears that racism can possibly ruin the friendly atmosphere between competing teams. So the Russian Sports minister Vitaly Mutko has ordered to investigate all such incidents as carefully as possible.

Sources: RIA Novosti Gazeta.ru Image: novostimira