(ATR) Russian President Vladimir Putin names Vitaly Mutko a Deputy Prime Minister with a Presidential decree creating a new deputy minister for sports, tourism and youth policy.
The promotion makes Mutko vacate his position as the country’s sports minister although he will still oversee sports in his new role. Mutko will also retain his position as president of the Russian Football Union (RFU). He was reelected as the federation’s president last month in Moscow.
RFU’s vice president Nikita Simonyan told TASS that Mutko is fully capable of handling the responsibilities of his new role and at the helm of the RFU.
"[Mutko] has enough of working capacity and knowledge to cope with everything," Simonyan told TASS. "This is why it is impossible for him to leave the RFU now, particularly in the wake of the [2018 FIFA] World Cup. It is clear to him and the authorities of the country."
While he retains his RFU post, Mutko is being replaced as the sports minister by Pavel Kolobkov. Kolobkov previously served under Mutko as the deputy sports minister.
The move allows the scandal-hit minister to distance himself from the Russian doping issues that forced the International Association of Athletics Federations to ban the Russian team from the Rio 2016 Olympics and the International Paralympic Committee to adopt a blanket ban on the entire Russian delegation.
While Mutko has not been directly implicated in the doping scandal, the July 2016 McLaren report commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency found that it’s "inconceivable" Mutko could have been unaware of the doping cover up schemes.
Mutko’s appointment also follows the promotion of Russian Olympic Committee president Alexander Zhukov as the new deputy speaker of Russia’s lower house of Parliament which caused him to step down as ROC chief. Zhukov also stepped down from leading the Beijing 2022 IOC Coordination Commission. Zhukov’s remains an IOC member for the time being.
Zhukov also previously served as a Deputy Prime Minister from 2004 to 2011.
Written by Kevin Nutley
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