The agency has already identified several hotels guilty of price inflation in Volgograd and Saransk, among other cities. Prices for hotel rooms in these cities rose 40 times, the head of the agency Oleg Safonov was cited as saying by the Izvestia newspaper on Thursday.

Russia's Federal Tourism Agency has said that it will create a public blacklist for hotels that hike their prices for the 2018 World Cup.

Earlier in December, the Russian consumer rights watchdog Rospotrebnadzor initiated a case against a hotel in Volgograd that increased prices 20-fold, the state-owned TASS news agency reported.

The Gallery Park Volgograd Hotel asked 130,250 rubles ($2,262) for a one-night stay in its presidential suite during the World Cup, which will be held in Russia between June 14 and July 15. The regular price for the room is 5,990 rubles.

The standard room in the Volgograd hotel also went up in price, up from the usual 1,600 rubles to 55,000 rubles during the tournament.

The Federal Agency for Tourism plans to publish a blacklist of such hotels in early 2018.

Based on ticket sales and requests, at least 1.5 million foreign tourists are expected to visit Russia during the World Cup. The Federal Agency for Tourism estimates that they will spend up to $2 billion during their time in the country, TASS reported.