England's 2018 World Cup bid team has lodged a complaint with Fifa against the head of Russia's rival campaign over comments he made about London.
Russia 2018 chief executive Alexei Sorokin was quoted as criticising high crime rates and the drinking habits of young people in England's capital.
Fifa has strict rules prohibiting criticism of rival bids.
Sorokin said he had no intention to discredit bid rivals and is ready to apologise for any "misunderstanding".
"I can only apologise for this misunderstanding," he said. "We have the tapes of the interview and I know for a fact that I didn't break any rules.
"I did not try to hurt or discredit our bid rivals, there was no malice intended, I'm 100% sure of that".
England's complaint has been made against Sorokin rather than the Russian bid as a whole.
The controversy began last week when Russian paper Sport Express reported Sorokin to have said: "We do not enter into squabbles.
"It's no secret, for example, that London has the highest crime rate when compared with other European cities, and the highest level of alcohol consumption among young people".
Sorokin also criticised the British media for their coverage of Russia's bid as well as referring to Peter Odemwingie, the former Lokomotiv Moscow forward who was the subject of racial abuse before and after he left the Russian club for West Brom.
But Sorokin says Russia's bid team could explain themselves to governing body Fifa as well as England's bid team if necessary.
BBC Sport
