World Cup Organising Committee Chief Steps Aside Amid Doping Ban
Russian Deputy Prime Minister and the President of Russia Football Union Vitaly Mutko, has temporarily stood down as he fights a ban given for state-backed doping.
Vitaly Mutko was banned from the Olympics for life in early December having been accused of running a huge Olympic doping programme.
Mutko said he would stand down as president of the Russian Football Union while he contests the ban.
He has always denied taking part in doping but Russia was banned from competing in the 2018 Winter Olympics.
Mutko will continue to carry out his role as the chief organiser of next summer’s football World Cup in Russia.
Whistleblower Vitaly Stepanov, a former Russian anti-doping agency worker, told the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that Mutko, a former sports minister, “created and ran” Russia’s “state-directed” doping programme.
Mutko, he said, “received help from other state officials” including “Vladimir Putin’s authorisation of a decree that required urine and blood samples carried by foreign anti-doping inspectors to be approved”.
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