MOSCOW: Zenit St Petersburg's perfect start to the fledgling season ended Wednesday as the Russian league leaders were held 1-1 at Ural Yekaterinburg.
Roberto Mancini's side however remain top of the table equal on 13 points with Lokomotiv Moscow, who were also held 1-1 by 10-man Rubin Kazan.
Rostov beat Dynamo Moscow 1-0 to sit third three points behind the leading duo.
Romanian striker Eric Bicfalvi put Ural ahead after 35 minutes with a header off Nikolay Dimitrov's right-wing cross.
But Zenit upped the tempo after the break and Alexander Kokorin equalised just before the hour mark when he redirected a Sebastian Driussi cross into the net.
"I'm really disappointed with the result," said Mancini. "We had plenty of chances after the break but managed to convert only one of them."
Champions Spartak Moscow bounced back from last week's 5-1 thrashing at Zenit with a 2-0 win at home to Arsenal Tula.
Dutchman Quincy Promes lifted Spartak after 20 minutes with forward Ze Luis adding his goal with six minutes to go.
"No player is guaranteed a place on the pitch. I rearranged the team," said Spartak manager Massimo Carrera of the eight changes made after the St Petersburg flop.
Rubin, meanwhile, were reduced to 10 men after Brazilian striker Cristian Jonatas was sent off for the second bookable offence after 53 minutes.
But nine minutes later Rubin grabbed the lead through Rifat Zhemaletdinov, who scored from the spot after the visitors fouled Ruslan Kambolov in the area.
Lokomotiv full back Solomon Kverkvelia saved the day as he levelled in injury time.