MOSCOW: Russian Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko, a long-serving sports official entangled in allegations of state-sponsored doping, resigned as head of Russia’s Football Union on Wednesday, the football body said.

The announcement followed a string of decisions that recently have rolled back Mutko’s formal involvement in Russian sport as the country faced additional scrutiny over its doping scandal and its role as World Cup host.

The Russian Football Union will elect a new president on Feb 22 and Sergei Pryadkin, vice-president of the Russian Football Union and president of Russia’s Premier League, will serve as head of the union until then, executive committee member Igor Lebedev wrote on Twitter.

Mutko, who oversaw sport at the height of Russia’s doping scandal, had temporarily stepped down from his role as president of Russia’s Football Union last year after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) banned him from the Olympics over allegations of state-sponsored doping at the 2014 Sochi Games.

Russia has denied the allegations, and Mutko has appealed the IOC’s decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). The court has yet to set a hearing date.

Published in Dawn, December 20th, 2018