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The Zenit Arena in St Petersburg is a Confederations Cup venue.

Russia's deputy prime minister, Vitaly Mutko, has rejected claims that journalists covering the 2017 Confederations Cup will be restricted in what they can report.

Earlier this week, German Football Association (DFB) president Reinhard Grindel backed Bild newspaper over claims of censorship ahead of the tournament, which serves as a warm-up for the 2018 World Cup.

Bild, Germany's most popular paper, has said it will boycott the Confederations Cup if journalists are not given freedom to report as they please.

The newspaper said print journalists have been informed that they will be restricted in their travelling and reporting.

It said the guidelines issued to journalists working in print media with approved accreditation stipulate that they "will solely cover the FIFA Confederations Cup 2017 and related events," with their reporting limited to the "territory of the host cities and cultural sites located nearby."

But in a statement issued jointly with FIFA and published by Bild, Mutko said: "There will be no restrictions for journalists at the Confederations Cup. They can write about whatever they want."

FIFA also said there would be no restrictions for journalists with FIFA accreditation, with the statement saying: "They can work without restrictions on the territory of the host cities and the nearby territories."

Stephan Uersfeld is the Germany correspondent for ESPN FC. Follow him on Twitter @uersfeld.

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Russia denies Confed censorship claims - ESPN FC