Russia’s Interior Ministry has apparently instructed regional police departments not to report any “bad news” while the country hosts the FIFA World Cup (from early June until late July). Sources in the ministry's regional press offices confirmed the rumors to the website Mediazona, saying police have been issued “special orders” to focus on prevented crimes.

Reviewing the websites of all regional Interior Ministry offices, Mediazona verified that officials have reported vastly fewer cases of detentions, solved crimes, and search operations since June 6. Regional departments have also stopped publishing daily reports about local criminal activity.

From June 1 to June 6, Interior Ministry regional offices published 1,438 news reports mentioning the words “detain,” “disclose,” “search,” or “Criminal Code.” Between June 7 and June 13, this figure dropped to 71 reports (20 times fewer). Since June 7, police reports about ongoing activities have dealt mostly with searches for missing persons.