Chris Samba to stay with Anzhi Makhachkala despite racist taunts

• Former Blackburn defender taunted by fans in Russia
• 'I will never let the small community of racists break me'

Chris Samba left Blackburn Rovers to join the Dagestani club Anzhi Makhachkala.

Chris Samba insists he remains committed to the Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala despite his anger at being the target of racism in the country that will host the 2018 World Cup.

A banana was thrown at the Congolese defender after a match at Lokomotiv Moscow last month, the third such incident against an Anzhi player in the past year.

"I feel extremely passionately about racism in football and will never let the small community of racists break me," Samba said. "I'm a strong character and will keep fighting for my team."

Samba left Blackburn Rovers in February to join Guus Hiddink's Anzhi for a reported £12m.

"I am thoroughly enjoying my time in Russia and although I was of course angry at the racism incident, along with the rest of the football world, racist issues here are no different to what I have experienced in other countries," Samba said.

But the incident prompted World Cup organisers to pledge to step up action to curb racism in Russian football.

Racism has become entrenched in some of the country's fan clubs, which often include ultranationalists and neo-Nazis.

Samba's Anzhi team-mate Roberto Carlos, the former Brazil and Real Madrid defender, had bananas thrown at him twice last year. In 2010, Lokomotiv fans unfurled a banner showing a banana in a display directed at the Nigerian striker Peter Odemwingie, who went on to join West Bromwich Albion.

Anzhi is owned by Suleiman Kerimov, a billionaire from Dagestan, the Caspian province in southern Russia where the club is based.