"We and the Federal Agency for Tourism approached FIFA in order to obtain permission for public broadcasts of the World Cup [matches] and didn't get an answer. It is a weird situation, there is neither a refusal nor an answer... In fact, it seems like a ban for the official World Cup fan zones. It is totally unfair," Volchenko told journalists.

The minister added that the lack of official fan zones would not prevent Crimea's residents from enjoying the World Cup games.

"Unfortunately there is no official permission for the broadcasts. We are still hopeful but there is only a week left [until the World Cup] and unofficial broadcasting is not out style," he said.

Russia will host the FIFA World Cup for the first time from June 14 to July 15. The games are set to be held in 11 cities - Moscow, St. Petersburg, Samara, Saransk, Rostov-on-Don, Sochi, Kazan, Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Nizhny Novgorod and Yekaterinburg.