He does have a point that Russia is not the safest place in the world, but I think (I've never been to South Africa) that it's not less safer than some places in your country. I can bet that it's much safer than Brazil, though.
As for Russians not being bothered about football, that was too silly. I spend almost an entire spring and half a summer in Russia and there was no difference in how they treat football and how we treat it down here. And we're crazy about it.