
Police stand watch outside Yekaterinburg stadium during the Egypt-Uruguay match on Friday
With fears lingering of a terrorist attack like the bloody underground bombing last year in St Petersburg, near where the England team is based, Moscow has deployed missile launchers and anti-drone jammers at stadiums.
Regional cops have been dragooned to patrol host cities, leaving their home towns complaining of shortages.
The media blackout underlines the push to make the national prestige project a success after Vladimir Putin told police in February that the " image of the nation depends upon the thoroughness of your work".
In a copy of a document seen by The Telegraph, a colonel in Russia's central federal district ordered subordinates to "cease publishing in the mass media information about investigative operations and preventative measures" from June 5 to July 25.














Comment: See also: UK media scaremongers on Russian cities prior to FIFA World Cup