Christopher Samba has been charged by Russian Premier League club Dynamo Moscow for displaying an "unpleasant gesture" to rival fans. The ex-Blackburn Rovers and Queens Park Rangers centre-back was subjected to racial taunts from fans of city rivals Torpedo Moscow which apparently led to his reaction.

The incident occurred during a derby match this past Sunday at Torpedo's Saturn Stadium. Dynamo won the game 3-1 but had to play the second half without Samba, who was withdrawn in response to the abuse.

That's apparently when the 30-year-old reacted to the insults, according to the Associated Press (h/t USA Today):

Samba was substituted at halftime in apparent distress at the abuse, but faces a Russian Football Union charge he displayed an "unpleasant gesture" to Torpedo fans. The RFU did not elaborate.

RFU disciplinary committee chairman Artur Grigoryants told the R-Sport agency that the case will be heard on Saturday.

Torpedo was punished for the racist abuse on Thursday when the RFU ordered the closure of one stand for its next game.

The same report also indicated that this isn't the first time a player on the receiving end of racial slurs has faced a charge for his response. Dacosta Goore, at the time a defender for Alania, incurred a ban after giving a middle finger to his abusers.

It has since been confirmed that Samba "asked not to play the second half" because of the extent of the abuse, a fact Dynamo made public according to the Telegraph:

Dynamo manager Stanislav Cherchesov had originally claimed that Samba had gone off with a calf injury, but club vice-president Gennady Soloviev said last night: 'I can confirm Samba felt offended with Torpedo fans and didn’t want to go on the pitch for the second half. That is why he was replaced.'

This certainly isn't the first time Samba has encountered problems since moving to Russia's top flight from Rovers in February 2012. He had been a major hit in the English Premier League after arriving at Blackburn from Bundesliga club Hertha Berlin.

The Congolese powerhouse proved a determined and rugged defender with a flair for snatching goals from set pieces thanks to his tremendous aerial strength.

Those attributes were enough to encourage newly minted Anzhi Makhachkala to come calling. The club, barely 20 years old at the time, wanted Samba to underpin a new side that also included Cameroon striker Samuel Eto'o.

However, in December 2012 Samba had very strong words for supporters of Zenit St Petersburg, during an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live (h/t BBC Sport):

I'm not surprised. Everybody knows Zenit supporters are no good and racist.

They are living in another century. It's a sad day for Russian football.

In this time we have different communities and countries that constitute teams. If they can't accept that then they are never going to progress.

Midfielder Alex Witsel since described incidents of racism he'd encountered while playing for Zenit, via a report from RSport.ru. The latest incident is another unsavoury chapter in recent Russian football history.

Naturally, a lot of focus will be on the response. BBC Russian Service reporter Rafael Saakov detailed the extent of Torpedo's punishment:

Russian Football Union (RFU) ruled on Thursday Torpedo must shut the 'fan's sector' for their next league match.

However, all other parts of the Saturn Stadium will remain open.

The 'fans' sector' is the part of the arena where the most active fans of the home team sit. There are no restrictions in place to prevent those supporters from buying tickets to sit elsewhere in the stadium.

Given the details Saakov outlines, closing part of the Saturn Stadium is unlikely to be considered a stern enough punishment. It could certainly seem that way alongside whatever punishment Samba may receive.

There will be a lot of eyes on how the RFU treats Samba in the aftermath of this latest incident. The nation has been selected to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

That puts more scrutiny on how the domestic governing bodies respond to a problem that isn't going away.