Russian President Vladimir Putin’s opponents have implored the West not to yield amid heightened diplomatic tensions.
It comes as a senior US official arrives in Moscow for talks on a potential US-Russia summit next month.
The Russian government has been on a charm offensive during the World Cup, with Mr Putin enjoying a busy diplomatic schedule.
The nation of 144 million has hosted a largely safe and friendly tournament across 11 cities.
Professor Andrey Zubov, Deputy Chairman of the Parnas Party - one of Russia’s leading opposition groups - applauded ordinary Russians for successfully hosting the world’s largest sports event. But he said the Russian government hasn’t been so sincere.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said the World Cup would leave Russia in the black. Source: FIFA / Getty Images
“It’s only a mimicry of democracy, but not a return to democracy, a return to human rights,” Professor Zubov said. “It’s supposed to break this isolation and to demonstrate to the whole world and a lot of simple people who came to this World Cup that Russia is a normal, maybe even democratic country.”
US National Security Advisor John Bolton is expected in Moscow on Wednesday for meetings with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov - a forerunner to mooted talks between Mr Putin and US President Donald Trump.
But there are opposition calls for Western countries not to ease pressure on Russia amid fractured diplomatic relations.
“The main idea of Putin now is to return to world society without changing his policy towards Ukraine, without returning Crimea to Ukraine, without changing his politics in Syria,” Professor Zubov said.
Meanwhile, Russian activists held a covert protest on a central Moscow thoroughfare popular with fans watching the World Cup on Tuesday, calling on the Kremlin to release a Ukrainian filmmaker held in a Siberian jail who is currently on hunger strike.
Street activists unveiled a 1.5 metre-tall mock-up World Cup trophy bound in barbed wire and carrying the slogan "#Free Sentsov" a reference to Oleg Sentsov, who was jailed in 2015 on what he calls political charges.
Sentsov has been on hunger strike since 14 May in a bid to highlight the World Cup host's human rights record while it is in the global spotlight, and to win the release of other jailed Ukrainians.
