Vitaly Leontiyevich Mutko (; born Viktor Leontiyevich Mutko; 8 December 1958) is a Russian politician who served as the

Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation () is a member of the Government of Russia The Russian Government () or fully titled the Government of the Russian Federation () is the highest federal executive governmental body o ...

from 2016 to 2020. From 2008 to 2016, he served as the Minister of Sport of Russia.

Biography

Mutko was born on 8 December 1958 in the

stanitsa A stanitsa or stanitza ( ; ), also spelled stanycia ( ) or stanica ( ), was a historical administrative unit of a Cossack host, a type of Cossack polity that existed in the Russian Empire. Etymology The Russian word is the diminutive of the word ...

of Kurinskaya of Apsheronsky District in

Krasnodar Krai Krasnodar Krai (, ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (a krai), located in the North Caucasus region in Southern Russia and is administratively a part of the Southern Federal District. Its administrative center is the t ...

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 Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

. He attended the 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. He also graduated from the Law Department of

Saint Petersburg State University Saint Petersburg State University (SPBGU; ) is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the Great, the university from the be ...

in 1999. In 1992, he became the deputy mayor of Saint Petersburg as well as the chairman of the City Committee on Social Issues. He served in both the positions until 1996. Along with

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

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 The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...

. He also moved into sports administration and became the president of

FC Zenit Saint Petersburg Football Club Zenit (, ), also known as Zenit Saint Petersburg or simply Zenit, is a Russian professional association football, football club based in Saint Petersburg. Founded in 1925 (or in 1914, according to some Russian sources), the club p ...

in 1997. During his tenure, he oversaw the club's rise to sporting prominence as well as economic transformation. He founded the

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; , ''Rossiyskaya premyer-liga''; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is a professional association football league in Russia and the highest level of the Russian football league system. It was establis ...

in 2001 and became its president, a position which he held until 2003. He was appointed to the committee of

Russian Paralympic Committee The Russian Paralympic Committee () is the National Paralympic Committee representing Russia. History The Russian Paralympic Committee was founded in 1996. On 7 August 2016, it was suspended by the International Paralympic Committee due to Do ...

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 An upper house is one of two Legislative chamber, chambers of a bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house. The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smaller and often has more restricted p ...

of the

Russian parliament The Federal Assembly is the bicameral national legislature of Russia. The upper house is the Federation Council (Russia), Federation Council, and the lower house is the State Duma. The assembly was established by the Constitution of the Russian F ...

, representing the Saint Petersburg government. He was elected as the President of

Russian Football Union The Russian Football Union (, ''Rossiyskiy Futbolnyy Soyuz'' or RFS) is the official governing body of association football in the Russian Federation. With headquarters in Moscow, it organizes Russian amateur and professional football, includi ...

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

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Dmitry Medvedev Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev (born 14 September 1965) is a Russian politician and lawyer who has served as Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia since 2020. Medvedev was also President of Russia between 2008 and 2012 and Prime Mini ...

. He was appointed as a member of

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

's Executive Committee in 2009. He was also the chairman of Russia's successful 2018 FIFA World Cup bid. 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 Sport The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; , TAS) is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland, and its courts are located in New York City, Sy ...

in Lausanne, Switzerland. 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. On 15 January 2020, he resigned as part of the cabinet, after

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 A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of , a state-owned company involved in the mortgage and realty market.

World Cup bid

Mutko was the chairman for Russia's successful bid to host the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

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 Corruption in Russia is considered a very serious problem, impacting various aspects of life, including the economy, business, politics, public administration, law enforcement, healthcare, and education. It hinders economic development, contrib ...

, but I meant that if you dig deeply you find corruption in any country".

Corruption allegations

Mutko accompanied the Russian team to the

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (), also known as the Winter Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were held i ...

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

in 2010. Afterwards, a report by the Russian parliament's Audit Chamber''Vancouver Olympics spending scandal: How much does a Russian breakfast cost?''
csmonitor.com criticised him for claiming for a total of 97 breakfasts during the team's twenty-day stay in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

,''Russia rests 2018 World Cup bid on belief that big and bold is best''
Guardian costing a total of $4,500. Each night in his hotel was charged at $1,499. In total, Mutko is said to have spent twelve times his official limit. Mutko told

Vedomosti ( rus, Ведомости, p=ˈvʲedəməsʲtʲɪ, ) is a Russian-language business daily newspaper published in Moscow. History was founded in 1999 as a joint venture between Dow Jones, who publishes ''The Wall Street Journal''; Pearson, ...

newspaper: "Why do those who want to accuse me of something not interest themselves in how much the French sports minister paid for accommodation?"

Doping

On 9 November 2015, a report by an independent commission of the

World Anti-Doping Agency The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA; , AMA) is an international organization co-founded by the governments of over 140 nations along with the International Olympic Committee based in Canada to promote, coordinate, and monitor the fight against d ...

accused Mutko of overseeing a wide-ranging, doping scheme within Russian

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

. Dick Pound, the head of the commission, said, "It was impossible for him utkonot to be aware of it. And if he’s aware of it, he’s complicit in it." It was further alleged that Mutko's agency had undue influence over RUSADA, the Russian anti-doping agency that should operate independently from influence of government or athletes. On 5 December 2017, the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based i ...

(IOC) banned Mutko for life from future Olympic Games for his role in the doping conspiracy. The

however lifted it in July 2019, after he appealed to it for overturning the decision of IOC.

English Speech

In December 2010, when Mutko was at a meeting in

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

with the executive committee of FIFA about the 2018 World Cup's host country, he delivered a welcoming speech in English with a strong Russian accent. This speech became well known as "Лет ми спик фром май харт" (Let me speak from my heart) and gained massive popularity on the internet. After the speech, Mutko claimed that he had been memorising the speech for two weeks, including in front of his family, and that the English speech was cyrillised. Mutko's English was also the subject of nonstop jokes from the

Russian government The Russian Government () or fully titled the Government of the Russian Federation () is the highest federal executive governmental body of the Russian Federation. It is accountable to the president of the Russian Federation and controlled by ...

. In 2015,

wished Mutko a happy birthday with broken English.

also gave Mutko an English self-help book.

Public positions

*2009 – Member of the FIFA Council *Vice-president of the Football Federation of St Petersburg *Founder and President of the Public Charity Foundation for Support and Development of Football in St Petersburg “Golden Pelican” *President of the Special Olympic Committee of

St Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

, conducting competitions for athletes with disabilities and developing rehabilitation programs for people with intellectual disabilities *2005–2009 – President of the Football Union of Russia *2001–2003 – President of the Russian Football Premier League *2015–2018 - President of the Football Union of Russia * 2020–present - CEO of

Sanctions

Vitaly Mutko is engaged in commercial activities in sectors of the economy that provide a significant source of income for the Russian government, which initiated military operations and genocide of civilians in

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. On February 19, 2023, it was added to the sanctions list of Ukraine.

Honours and awards

Order of Merit for the Fatherland Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * ...

3rd (2014) and 4th class (2008) * Order of Honour (1994) *

Order of Friendship The Order of Friendship (, ') is a state decoration of the Russian Federation established by Boris Yeltsin by presidential decree 442 of 2 March 1994 to reward Russian and foreign nationals whose work, deeds and efforts have been aimed at ...

(2002) * Medal "In Commemoration of the 300th Anniversary of Saint Petersburg" (2003) * Medal "In Commemoration of the 1000th Anniversary of Kazan" (2005)

References

External links

BiographyFootball Union of Russia

FoxSports
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mutko, Vitaly 1958 births Living people People from Apsheronsky District Deputy heads of government of the Russian Federation Government ministers of Russia Members of the Federation Council of Russia (after 2000) Presidents of the Russian Football Union Russian football chairmen and investors Doping in Russia FC Zenit Saint Petersburg Members of the UEFA Executive Committee Recipients of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 2nd class Recipients of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 3rd class Recipients of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 4th class Recipients of the Order of Honour (Russia) Recipients of the Order of Friendship