The draw will be held in front of a star-studded audience at Moscow's State Kremlin Palace, which could include Russian President Vladimir Putin.

It comes as the country continues to reel from its doping scandal, which has implicated Russia 2018 Organising Committee head and Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko, and prepares to learn whether they will be cleared to compete at Pyeongchang 2018 by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Speculation has grown in recent weeks that Russia may be banned entirely from competing at the Winter Olympic Games or could be forced to participate under a neutral flag.

The IOC are due to make a decision on the extent of Russian participation at their Executive Board meeting in Lausanne on Tuesday (December 5).

The draw, hosted by former England international Gary Lineker - a staunch critic of FIFA following the organisation's widespread corruption scandal - and Russian journalist Maria Komandnaya, takes place amid continued questioning of how Russia secured the hosting rights.

The race for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups remains the subject of ongoing criminal investigations amid claims of corruption in the bidding process.

Preparations for the 2018 tournament have also been shrouded by fears over racism and discrimination in Russia.

It has led to FIFA giving referees the power to abandon matches at the World Cup for discriminatory incidents.

Concerns have also been raised about human rights violations at stadiums being constructed to host matches at the 32-team tournament in June and July next year.

Human rights campaigners have persistently criticised Russia and FIFA for not doing enough to address the issue.

Human Rights Watch recently warned tight deadlines at venues means workers at the various construction sites are facing an escalated risk of abuse.

Venue construction at some of the venues has been hit by delays, notably the Samara Stadium, but organisers have continually insisted preparations are on track.

Lineker and Komandnaya will be joined by eight draw assistants, all of whom are former internationals, in France’s Laurent Blanc, England’s Gordon Banks, Brazil’s Cafu, Italy’s Fabio Cannavaro, Uruguay’s Diego Forlán, Argentina’s Diego Maradona, Spain’s Carles Puyol and Russia’s Nikita Simonyan.

The 32 competing nations have been split into eight pots based on their FIFA rankings.

Russia are in pot one as hosts and are joined by Germany, Brazil, Portugal, Argentina, Belgium, Poland and France.

Pot two features Spain, Peru, Switzerland, England, Colombia, Uruguay, Mexico and Croatia, while the third pot is comprised of Denmark, Iceland, Costa Rica, Sweden, Tunisia, Egypt, Senegal and Iran.

Serbia, Nigeria, Australia, Japan, Morocco, Panama, South Korea, Saudi Arabia make up pot four.

Groups for the World Cup will contain one team from each pot.

Only one nation from each Confederation can be drawn together, with the exception of Europe as a maximum of two sides from the continent can be placed in the same group.