Vitaly Mutko

Vitaly Leontiyevich Mutko (Виталий Леонтьевич Мутко; born Viktor Leontiyevich Mutko; 8 December 1958 ) is a Russian politician who served as the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia from 2016 to 2020.

Mutko was born on 8 December 1958 in the stanitsa of Kurinskaya of Apsheronsky District in Krasnodar Krai in the Soviet Union.

He started working as a technician on shipping vessels in 1977.

In 1983, he was selected to work for the executive committee of Kirov district of Leningrad.

He attended the Saint Petersburg State University of Water Communication in Leningrad, graduating from the River Vocational College in 1987.

Before graduating from College, Mutko changed his name from Victor to Vitaly.

In 1990, he was appointed as a member of the district council and the head of the district administration a year later.

In 1992, he became the deputy mayor of Saint Petersburg as well as the chairman of the City Committee on Social Issues.

Along with Vladimir Putin in 1994, who at the time headed the city mayor's committee for external relations, he helped organize the 1994 Goodwill Games which was the first major sporting event in Russia since the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

He served in both the positions until 1996.

He also moved into sports administration and became the president of FC Zenit Saint Petersburg in 1997.

During his tenure, he oversaw the club's rise to sporting prominence as well as economic transformation.

He also graduated from the Law Department of Saint Petersburg State University in 1999.

He founded the Russian Premier League in 2001 and became its president, a position which he held until 2003.

He was appointed to the committee of Russian Paralympic Committee in 2002 and has also chaired committees and charities for helping people with mental disabilities.

On 29 October 2003, he became a member of the upper house of the Russian parliament, representing the Saint Petersburg government.

He was elected as the President of Russian Football Union in April 2005, a position in which he served until November 2009.

Meanwhile, in 2006, he defended his doctoral thesis on "Correlation of Market and Public Regulators in the Development of Physical Culture and Sport" at the St. Petersburg State University and received a doctorate in economics.

From 2008 to 2016, he served as the Minister of Sport of Russia.

He was appointed as the Minister of Sport, Tourism and Youth Policy on 12 May 2008 by President Dmitry Medvedev.

He was appointed as a member of FIFA's Executive Committee in 2009.

Mutko accompanied the Russian team to the Winter Olympics in Vancouver in 2010.

Afterwards, a report by the Russian parliament's Audit Chamber criticised him for claiming for a total of 97 breakfasts during the team's twenty-day stay in Canada, costing a total of $4,500.

He was reappointed as Minister of Sport on 21 May 2012 by President Putin.

On 2 September 2015, he was appointed as the President of Russian Football Union for a second time without any opposition.

Although government officials aren't allowed to hold top positions in sports organizations, an exception was made for Mutko in July 2015.

On 24 September 2016, he was elected as the President of the association for a term of four years after winning the elections with 266 votes against his opponent Valery Gazzaev who received 142 votes.

On 19 October 2016, he was promoted to a Deputy Prime Minister of Russia.

His deputy Pavel Kolobkov was appointed to replace him as the Minister of Sport.

He was barred from standing in re-election as a member of FIFA Council in March 2017 due to his ministerial role that was against the statutes of political neutrality and the prevention of any form of government interference.

He announced temporarily relinquishing his position on 25 December 2017 as President of Russian Football Union for a period of six months to appeal against his Olympic ban, which was later lifted by the Court of Arbitration for Sports in Lausanne, Switzerland.

He was also the chairman of Russia's successful 2018 FIFA World Cup bid.

On 18 May 2018, he was re-appointed Deputy Prime Minister, while instead of sports issues, in the new cabinet, Mutko began to oversee the construction and development of regions.

Mutko resigned as head of Russian Football Union on 19 December.

Mutko was the chairman for Russia's successful bid to host the World Cup in 2018.

He has, however, been criticised for his comments about the rival English bid, such as by suggesting that English football is corrupt.

By way of explanation, he said: "What I meant was that sometimes the English media say there is corruption in Russia, but I meant that if you dig deeply you find corruption in any country".

On 15 January 2020, he resigned as part of the cabinet, after President Vladimir Putin delivered the Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly, in which he proposed several amendments to the constitution.

On 21 January, he was replaced by Marat Khusnullin.

On 29 January, Mutko was appointed as the chief executive officer of DOM.RF, a state-owned company involved in the mortgage and realty market.