Putin attended the draw and gave an opening speech alongside FIFA President Gianni Infantino at the State Kremlin Palace.

The Russian President promised the tournament would be held with the "eternal values" of friendship and fair play in mind and claimed the country would organise the tournament "at the highest possible level".

"Our country is looking forward to the World Cup and it is going to hold it at the highest level to let the leading footballers display their skills and show what real football is all about," Putin said in his opening address.

"We’ll make everything possible so that it became a true sports holiday and, what is most important, brought closer the big and friendly football family, the family that values sports, friendship and fair contest most of all and the values of which are not governed by any current situation."

Russia were paired with Uruguay, Egypt and Saudi Arabia in Group A.

The host nation will go up against Saudi Arabia in the opening match of the tournament, due to take place at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow on June 14.

Germany, winners in 2014, were given arguably the toughest group of the top seeds.

Spain, winners of the tournament in 2010, were handed an intriguing clash with European champions Portugal as they were placed in Group B along with Morocco and Iran.

Group C includes France, Australia, Peru and Denmark, while Argentina were also given a tricky draw as they will play Iceland, Croatia and Nigeria in Group D.

Brazil, hosts of the 2014 World Cup and five-time champions, will play Switzerland, Costa Rica and Serbia in Group E.

The South American giants are set to begin their pursuit of World Cup redemption with their first match against Switzerland on June 17 at the Rostov Arena.

They were humiliated 7-1 by Germany in the semi-finals of the 2014 tournament on home soil.

Belgium, England, Tunisia and Panama make up Group G and Group H contains Poland, Colombia, Senegal and Japan.

Various musical and cultural displays took place before the draw was conducted, hosted by former England international Gary Lineker - a staunch critic of FIFA following the organisation's widespread corruption scandal - and Russian journalist Maria Komandnaya.

They were joined by eight draw assistants, all of whom are former internationals.

They were 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 draw was held after Russian Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko, President of Russia 2018, used a press conference to attack foreign media for "distorting reality" about the country's current doping crisis.