Fifa has demanded an answer from the Russian Football Union (RFU) on Emmanuel Frimpong’s alleged incident of racism.
FC Ufa and Ghanaian forward Frimpong was sent off for raising his finger to Spartak Moscow fans in response to alleged monkey chants last weekend.
The midfielder was handed a two-game ban but Spartak excaped sanctions after the RFU committee ruled out racism claims.
The RFU has until Tuesday, 28 July to respond to Fifa’s request.
The draw for the preliminary rounds of the 2018 Fifa World Cup holds in St. Petersburg on Saturday afternoon, as questions are continuously being asked about the host nation’s readiness to combat racism.
Several incidents of discriminations against sports men of colour in Russia have been documented; the most recent work been carried out by football anti-discrimination group Fare with over 200 incident being linked to Russian football over two seasons.
Ivory Coast midfielder Yaya Toure has even suggested black players could boycott the 2018 finals billed for the country.
Two clubs from Moscow- host city for the next World Cup’s final- Spartak and Torpedo, were sanctioned after their fans abused Brazilian striker Hulk with monkey chants last season.
Hulk also alleged he was racially abused by the Russian referee Alexei Matyunin during a league game in December. The referee was cleared by a Russian Football Union (RFU) panel, which ruled there was insufficient evidence.
Fifa sustainability boss Federico Addiechi says the governing body will work with the RFU to tackle the problem ahead of the World Cup.
“It is up to us as the organizers of this event to make sure this event is welcoming everyone, not just for the players and participants but also for the fans,” he said.
“If the Russian Football Union are in need of our support, and I think they are, then we can provide certain support.”
Russia’s minister for sport Vitaly Mutko said the country’s football authorities were working to address the problem.
“We have introduced punitive sanctions for clubs and offenders and they are more harsh now,” he said.
“Another measure is a special inspector at the match whose responsibility will be to pay attention to that kind of incident so no incident is left unpunished.”
