Russian Football Union (RFU), led by the country's Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko, a member of FIFA's ruling Executive Committee, last month publicly declared their support for UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino, Shaikh Salman's main rival.  

It appears the RFU, an organisation largely controlled by the Russian Government, may be considering a U-turn over who it backs at the FIFA Extraordinary Congress, due to take place in Zurich on February 26.

Sergey Lavrov’s comments followed cooperation talks between President Vladimir Putin and Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, where anti-terror efforts were high on the agenda.

The Bahraini had earlier appealed to the 209 member associations who will vote in the election by calling on them to get behind one candidate in an interview with The Associated Press.

“If we go to election there will be losers and maybe sometimes you need to avoid that result,” he said.

“We have to be realistic - we know the chances of each candidate.

“Every day we calculate.

“I am sure that, of course, it is positive.

“I hope that Europe looks at it from an organisational point of view, and not an individual, on what is best.

“And if there is an agreement then I think it is a win-win."

A deal between and Gianni Infantino could also be inching closer after Shaikh Salman refused to rule out the possibility of the two coming to an agreement before the election.

“You cannot rule anything out at the end of the day,” he said.

It has been suggested that the Asian Football Confederation President and Infantino, who has the backing of European football’s governing body and the South American Football Confederation, may come to an understanding, with the Swiss becoming Shaikh Salman’s number two at FIFA.

Mutko has said he believes such a deal is possible.

Shaikh Salman, who recently received the support of the Executive Committee of the Confederation of African Football, was full of praise for Russia.

He insisted the World Cup there in 2018 would be “terrific”.

Corruption allegations have hovered over how the country won the rights to the tournament and he even declared he would consider re-running the bid processes for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups if “serious wrongful conduct was proved in a court of law” if elected.

Shaikh Salman also claimed he would give more power to Russia should he be elected FIFA President.

“Of course, we know that you always try to judge your success by the past tournament, but I have no doubt, that the next tournament will be even a greater success than the previous one,” Shaikh Salman told Russian news agency TASS.

“We're all looking forward for a terrific World Cup in Russia.

“Russia is a country you can always rely on.

“And I hope that, if I'm elected of course, it is very important that Russia plays a very important role in football and football politics to have a good balance on how this organisation should run.”