Blatter arrived in Russia on Tuesday to "enjoy the World Cup," with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later saying that Blatter's visit and all possible meetings were purely private.

Blatter served as FIFA president from 1998 till 2015 but stepped down in June 2015 amid a massive corruption scandal and was subsequently banned by the FIFA Ethics Committee from all the activities of world football's governing body for eight years. The ban was later reduced to six years.

Blatter can still attend football matches as an ordinary supporter if he buys a ticket.