UEFA chief Michel Platini has called on the Russian Football Union (RFU) to work out a clear set of sanctions to punish racist abuse at football venues.
"We've discussed this problem at the UEFA congress. If one footballer abuses the other he's banned for the offence. But for the unruly behaviour of fans we have to penalise the spectators," Platini said on a visit to Moscow.
"We had and will always have zero tolerance to racism. You can close the stadiums partially or completely in case of the fans' racist behaviour."
However, Platini said he opposed the idea of points deduction as a penalty measure for the clubs.
"In this case not the clubs but their fans will decide the result of the matches," Platini said.
Last month Russia's reigning champions CSKA Moscow were hit with a partial stadium ban by UEFA due to racist abuse of Manchester City's Yaya Toure in a Champions League match.
In a statement, UEFA said that their disciplinary body had ordered the closure of Sector D of CSKA's Arena Khimki for the club's next Champions League game against Germany's Bayern Munich on November 27.
"The fight against racism is a high priority for UEFA. The European governing body has a zero tolerance policy towards racism and discrimination on the pitch and in the stands," a UEFA statement said.
Manchester City's captain Toure - who is from Ivory Coast - claimed he was the target of racist chanting during his club's 2-1 win in Moscow on October 23.
Toure later said a boycott of the 2018 World Cup, which Russian will host, should be considered in case the country's football bosses fail to solve the racism problem.
On other matters, Platini said he was opposed to the idea of a unification of the Russian and Ukrainian leagues into a single championship.
"The Russian and Ukrainian leagues are both strong and financially stable and there's no necessity to unite them into a single championship," Platini told a news conference.
Share
