Earlier on Sunday, Putin took part in the ceremony of handing over the World Cup host's mantle to Qatar in Moscow’s Kremlin, which ended with Putin handing over the official match ball, which will be used in the World Cup final later on Sunday, to FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who passed it on to Qatari Emir al-Thani Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani.

During the ceremony, the Qatari emir said that he hoped Qatar, who won the bid to host the 2022 World Cup, would be able to repeat or even surpass Russia's success at their home World Cup.

"The only thing that confused me during today's ceremony is your claim that Qatar will repeat Russia's success. Because after our team's performance at this year's World Cup we will expect even greater results from them. What will then happen when our countries' teams play [against each other at the World Cup]?" Putin said at the meeting with the Qatari emir after the ceremony.

Playing on their home turf, the Russian national team achieved their best result at a FIFA World Cup since the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991, going as far as the quarter-finals, where they lost to Croatia on penalties.

The 2018 FIFA World Cup kicked off on 14 June. France will face Croatia in the final at Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium at 18:00 local time.