• Caption of black players training translates as: ‘See how chocolates melt in sun’ • Critics say racism one of the biggest issues Russia faces in World Cup year

Spartak Moscow are at the centre of a racism row after their official Twitter account posted a video of three black players in training alongside a caption that translates as “See how chocolates melt in the sun”.

The message was accompanied by several emojis of laughing faces and chocolate bars, above a 13-second clip showing the players, reported to be the Brazilian trio Fernando, Luiz Adriano and Pedro Rocha, smiling while stretching in sunny conditions.

The anti-discrimination group Kick It Out condemned the Russian club, writing a response on Twitter which said: “This social media post from the official account of Spartak Moscow only continues to highlight the prejudices towards black people in Russia.

“It is a reminder that, along with the whole of football, there is significant work to do to eradicate racism of all forms from the sport.”

Piara Powar, executive director of Football Against Racism in Europe, believes the message from Spartak is troubling as Russia builds towards hosting the World Cup later this year. He told BBC Sport: “Racism is one of the biggest issues Russia faces in the year they host the World Cup. References like this show how some minorities are seen by some in the country.

“For Russia’s biggest club to tolerate and then celebrate racist references of this kind is wrong.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Screengrab of the tweet on Spartak Moscow’s account before it was deleted. Photograph: @fcsm_official/twitter

The controversial Twitter post was later deleted from Spartak’s official page. It is the third time in a matter of months Spartak have been embroiled in a controversy over racism.

They were ordered to partially close their academy stadium for one fixture by Uefa, which found some of the club’s fans were guilty of racist behaviour towards the Liverpool striker Bobby Adekanye during a Youth League match in September. Last month, the Spartak defender Leonid Mironov was charged with racially abusing the Reds striker Rhian Brewster after an incident during the return Uefa Youth League game between the sides at Prenton Park.

The controversial social media posting comes a day after Russia’s foreign ministry accused the British media of “conjuring up” government-led propaganda in the buildup to the World Cup. Its spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, said: “We learned that reporters from the United Kingdom – not just one media outlet, but a number of them – received, in the truest sense of the word, a state order to launch a smear campaign for holding the World Cup in Russia.”

Zakharova then suggested that journalists were dissuaded from focusing on searching for different news angles because “stories, topics and approaches had been already conjured up”.

Russia will kick off the World Cup on 14 June, against Saudi Arabia at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. Staff and agencies