Irish diplomats are to meet later this week with Russian officials to discuss the violence which saw one group of Irish football fans attacked in Moscow's Red Square
The disturbances broke out before the Russia-Ireland match - the Republic opened its European Championships campaign with a 4-2 defeat - as fans were beaten and chased and kicked in one attack. Squads of police on duty near the Kremlin stood and watched, according to witnesses.
The general secretary of the Irish Football Supporters' Association, Mr Alan Hunter, last night called for an investigation and an apology from the Russian Minister for Justice, Mr Yuri Chaika.
"Irish fans were not involved in scuffles on Saturday afternoon. It was clearly premeditated," he said.
Many fans have complained to the Irish Embassy in Moscow about the failure of Russian police to intervene when they were attacked by gangs of skinheads. More than a dozen people needed hospital treatment after being beaten by at least 100 skinheads armed with iron bars and knives.
"They just came at us," one fan told The Irish Times. "It was crazy. Some lads were beaten when they took the metro. The police showed no intention of getting involved."
Embassy staff spent the weekend visiting hospitals tracing wounded fans. "We've done the rounds of the hospitals, nobody has been kept in for treatment," said Embassy spokesman Mr James O'Shea. There was no suggestion that Irish fans provoked the trouble, and at the match itself the behaviour of both sets of fans was exemplary, he said.