Iranian fans hold a replica trophy on Red Square ahead of the World Cup, which starts Thursday - AFP

A member of parliament has said Russian women should not have “intimate relations” with foreigners during the World Cup and warned against biracial babies.

Tamara Pletnyova, head of the family, women and children's affairs committee, argued that even if these relationships led to marriage, women or their children would inevitably be taken abroad by the man.

"Even if they get married, they'll take them away, then she doesn't know how to get back," Ms Pletnyova said on radio station Govorit Moskva. "Then they come to me in the committee, girls crying that their baby was taken away, was taken, and so on.

"I'd like people in our country to marry for love, no matter what nationality as long as they are Russian citizens who will build a family, live peacefully, have children and raise them.”

She said women who had babies with foreigners around the time of the 1980 Olympics in Moscow often “suffered” as single mothers.

“It's good if it's one race, but if it's another race, then they really did. We should have our own babies,” Ms Pletnyova said.

Former Arsenal midfielder Emmanuel Frimpong, who is from Ghana, said Spartak Moscow fans subjected him to monkey chants in 2015 Credit: Nick Potts/PA Archive

Biracial Russians were in the past often referred to as “children of the Olympics” or “festival children” after the huge international festivals the Soviet Union hosted with African, Middle Eastern and South American participants.

Dark-skinned Russians to this day often face frequent questions or discrimination in a country where less than 1 percent of the population is black.

More than 1 million international tourists are expected at the World Cup, sparking concerns about racial and LGBT tolerance, especially since ultraconservative Cossacks will patrol host cities.

Cossacks whipped members of Pussy Riot during the 2014 Olympics in Sochi.

The authorities have been cracking down for fear of hooligan attacks on foreign fans similar to the violence at Euro 2016 in Marseilles.

A Cossack whips opposition protesters in Moscow in May Credit: Maxim Zmeyev/AFP

Russian clubs have been sanctioned for racist fan behaviour, and a report last month by the Fare network and the SOVA Centre recorded 19 discriminatory chants, including monkey sounds and neo-Nazi songs, during the 2017-18 season.

Football fans in Oryol beat up three Iraqi students in August.

Fare will operate diversity houses in Moscow and St Petersburg and an anti-discrimination hotline.