Russian referee chief Valentin Ivanov has said Hulk's accusation that he was racially abused by an official was a "misunderstanding" and declared the matter closed.
Brazil forward Hulk was quoted as telling Reuters Brazil that referee Alexei Matyunin had told him during Saturday's match against Mordovia Saransk: "I don't like you, along with any other black people."
Matyunin firmly denied the accusation and told Sport Express he would "check to see who is the source of the libel" before launching legal action.
However, Hulk does not speak Russian and Matyunin does not speak Portuguese, and Ivanov said the language barrier had caused the issue.
"The issue is closed," he was quoted as saying in Sport Express. "I got in touch with Zenit CEO Maksim Mitrofanov, we discussed the situation and arrived at the conclusion that we see it in the same way -- it was simply a misunderstanding between Hulk and Matyunin. That's what Zenit will explain to the player.
"I don't want players and referees discussing serious issues in languages they don't understand. That's why I instructed referees not to reply to things they don't understand, but rather make basic gestures like yes or no."
Ivanov's deputy, Andrey Butenko, had previously demanded that Hulk apologised for making the remark but he backed the call to draw a line under the matter.
Butenko said: "It is very wise of Valentin Ivanov to ask everyone to forget this episode. I might have been too emotional previously, but that was because I too intended to close the issue. Let us finish it, because it was a misunderstanding.
"I ask everyone to stop discussing it -- there have already been a lot of headlines. It doesn't matter who is at fault for this situation."