The RPL General Meeting approved the clubs' applications on 24 May.

At the start of the meeting, the clubs also approved the RPL 2020/21 season results. Zenit were confirmed as champions, Spartak as runners up, and Lokomotiv as finishing third. Rotor and Tambov were formally relegated after finishing 15th and 16th respectively.

Krylia Sovetov return to the RPL after a season in the FNL. Previously, the team from Samara had played in the Premier Liga from 2002 to 2014, from 2015 to 2017 and from 2018 to 2020. Their best achievement was finishing third in 2004.

Nizhny Novgorod will be RPL debutants. The club was founded in 2015 under the name Volga-Olympiets, renamed Olympiets a year later before adopting its current name in 2018. Since the 2017/18 season, Nizhny Novgorod have played in the FNL. In the last season, Nizhny Novgorod came third, but received the right to compete in the RPL, as Orenburg did not receive the appropriate license.