Pyotr Chekmarev, head of the agriculture ministry's crop farming department, is concerned there could be "a global scandal" if the insects strike during the finals.
"One way or another, we have learnt how to deal with locusts, but how do we not fall into a global scandal with locusts this year?" he said at an agricultural event in Moscow.
"The whole world is coming here. Football fields are green. Locusts love it where there is lots of green. How would they not come to the place where football is being played?"
