Key Persons

Vitaly Mutko

Former Deputy Chairman of the Government of Russian Federation

General Biographical Information 

  • Vitaly Mutko was born on December 8, 1958, in Stanitsa Kurinsakya, Krasnodar Krai, RSFSR, USSR.
  • He was educated in Leningrad. He graduated from the Marine Transport Institute in 1987 and the Faculty of Law at Leningrad State University in 1999, where his thesis was about Professional Crime on the Example of Sports Events.
  • From 1999 to 2003, he was the President of Football Club Zenith.
  • In 2001, the Russian football Premiere League was established with his initiative. He held various positions in the Russian football world.
  • In 2002 he was elected to the Board of the Russian Paralympics Committee.
  • From 2005 to 2017 he was the President of the Russian Football Federation.
  • In 2006 he defended a dissertation at Saints Petersburg State University of Economics and Finances and was given the title of PhD in Economic Sciences.
  • In 2009 he was elected to the Executive Committee of FIFA.
  • In 2009, he was appointed by the Government of Russia to be the curator of the 2018 World Football Championship in Russia.
  • Over the years, he has been granted various orders:  Order for Merits to the Homeland, Order of Honor, Order of Friendship and others.

Sports Scandals

  • In 2010, he was the member of the Russian delegation when the host country of the 2018 Football World Cup was being selected in Zurich. His speech in English language generated a lot of responses, when he used the phrase “Let me speak from my heart” with a sharp Russian accent. His speech became quite popular on the internet and video featuring him titled «Виталий Мутко фром хиз харт» was soon very well known. His English was the topic of constant jokes in the Russian government as well. In 2015, Prime Minister of Russia, Dimitri Medvedev, congratulated Mutko on his birthday with broken English. President Vladimir Putin, on the other hand, gifted him an English language self-help book. 
  • Mutko’s name is mentioned multiple times in the Report by the World Anti-Doping Agency, which was published in 2016. The state system of doping during the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics was studied in an independent Commission Report, where Mutko’s name is also featured. On July 19, 2016, Mutko’s accreditation to the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics was taken away and on December 5, 2017, Mutko was permanently banned from attending any Olympics with any status.
  • On December 25, 2017, Mutko resigned from the position of the President of the Russian Football Federation. On December 30, he left the 2018 Football World Championship organizing committee. According to the assessment of the International Olympic Committee, Mutko was tied to the functioning of an “institutionalized” doping system existing in Russia. No football sanctions were instituted against him, yet he was forced to leave the position of the curator of hosting the championship. Mutko, who had curated the preparations of the World Cup in Russia for seven years, attended all meetings where Russia was present, but he set far from FIFA high ranking officials, due to the non-official ban on him.

Professional Career

  • In 1977-1978, at the outset of his career, Mutko started working on river cruisers as a marine-motorist.
  • In 1980, he became a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, after which his party career started. In 1983-1991, he worked as an Instructor, Head of Division, Secretary, Chairman and Head of District Administration at the District Council of People’s Deputies in the Kirov District of Saint Petersburg.
  • From 1992 to 1996 he was a Vice Mayor and the Head of Social Issues Committee at the Government of Saint Petersburg. Mutko had good relations with the Mayor of Saint Petersburg, Anatoly Sobchak. In the same period, Vladimir Putin and Dimitri Medvedev also worked with Sobchak. In 1996, Sobchak lost elections and Mutko left his position as well.
  • From October 29, 2003 to May 12, 2008, he was the member of the Federal Council of the Federal Assembly of Russian Federation from the Government of Saint Petersburg.
  • From May 12, 2008 to May 21, 2012 he was the Minister of Sports, Tourism and Youth Affairs. The Ministry was created after the structural reform of the government. As the Minister in charge of sports, he was often criticized for non-satisfactory results of Russian sports , including from the members of the ruling party. 
  • From May 21, 2012 to October 19, 2016 he was the Minister of Sports of Russia in Dimitri Medvedev’s government.
  • On October 19, 2016 he was appointed to the position of Deputy of the Prime Minister of Russia, Dimitri Medvedev.
  • On May 18, 2018, he managed to maintain his position as Deputy Prime Minister in Putin’s new government. Construction and regional development issues were selected to be his responsibility. In addition, Mutko will curate “national politics and national relations in general”. After his appointment Mutko stated that his new position differs from the spheres of his responsibility that he had previously; however, the issues of construction are familiar to him. According to the polls conducted during the formation of the new government, Mutko had the lowest ratings among Ministers.
  • In August 2018, Medvedev appointed Mutko as the Chairman of the Commission for Kazak Development.
  • In his role as the Vice Prime Minister, Mutko will also be the curator of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali Region. On June 5, 2018, he was also appointed as the Co-Chairman of the State Commission for Social-Economic Cooperation between Russia, Abkhazia and “South Ossetia”. He replaced Aleksandre Khloponin on this position, who did not manage to end up in Putin’s new government. Khloponin had worked with the occupied Georgian regions for years and had rich experience in this field. Mutko is being considered as a weak political figure by a part of experts. According to the assessment of Russian experts, Khloponin had enough experience in terms of management and business, while Mutko is considered to be one of the weakest managers in the government.
  • On January 21, 2020, deputy chairmen and ministers of the new government of the Russian Federation were approved. As a result of government reshuffle Mutko left position of Vice-Premier.
  • On January 28, 2020, Mutko was elected General Director at the state company „DOM.RF“. He will serve as Director from January 29, 2020, to January 28, 2025. JSC „DOM.RF“ is financial institution working on housing market development in Russia. The state company aims to develop mortgage credit market and housing construction. 100% company shares are owned by the state.

Relations with Abkhazia

  • On 27 June, 2018, Mutko held the first working meeting in Moscow with the de facto Prime Minister of Abkhazia, Genadi Gagulia. The topic of the meeting was the issue of implementation of the 2017-2019 investment programs supporting the social-economic development of Abkhazia.
  • On August 19, 2018, Mutko met the de facto Prime Minister of Abkhazia, Genadi Gagulia, who was visiting Moscow. The issues of the implementation of the 2017-2019 investment programs supporting the social-economic development of Abkhazia as well as those of the 2020-2022 Plan were discussed. The meeting also featured discussions about increasing passenger and cargo transport as well as the modernization of Abkhazia’s state TV-Radio communications.
  • On September 25, 2018, Mutko met with the newly appointed de facto Prime Minister of Abkhazia, Valeri Bganba. Minister of North Caucasus Affairs of Russian Federation, Sergey Chebotarev, also participated in the meeting. The participants discussed the issues of social-economic cooperation, more specifically the issues of the implementation of the 2017-2019 investment programs supporting the social-economic development of Abkhazia.
  • On December 18-19, 2019, the representative delegation of the Russian Federation visited Abkhazia. On December 19, the 18th Intergovernmental Session on socio-economic cooperation between the Russian Federation and Abkhazia was held in Sokhumi. The Session chairs were Mutko and Valery Bganba, de facto Prime-Minister of Abkhazia. The Russian delegation comprised Sergey Chebotarev, Minister of North Caucasus Affairs of the Russian Federation, his deputy Igor Koshin and Anton Melnik, Director of the Ministry International Cooperation Department. Delegation members from the Presidential Administration were Aleksey Filatov, Head of the Directorate for Cross Border Cooperation, and Denis Travin, Deputy Head of the Directorate. At the session the committee approved investment program for 2020-2022, promoting socio-economic development of Abkhazia.

Relations with Tskhinvali Region

  • On May 25, 2018, at the International Economic Forum in Saint Petersburg, Mutko held his first meeting with the de facto President and Prime Minister of Tskhinvali Region. The issues of the implementation of investment programs supporting the social-economic development of Tskhinvali Region were discussed during the meeting.
  • On November 15, 2018, the 19th meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission for Social-Economic Cooperation between the Russian Federation and Tskhinvali Region was held in Moscow, which was chaired by Mutko from the Russian side and de facto Prime Minister, Erik Pukhaev, from Tskhinvali Region. De facto President of Tskhinvali Region, Anatoly Bibilov and the Minister of North Caucasus Affairs of Russia, Sergey Chebotarev, his Deputy, Igor Koshin and the “Ambassador” of Russia in Tskhinvali Region, Marat Kulakhmetov, also participated in the meeting. The issues of the 2018 financial funding for the social-economic development of Tskhinvali Region as well as the 2018-2019 implementation of investment programs supporting the social-economic development of Tskhinvali Region were discussed during the meeting. Mutko expressed his satisfaction with the level of implementation of the programs. According to him, out of 18 projects planned for 2018, 11 have been completed. At the end of the meeting, the ceremony of signing the protocol of the 19th meeting was held. Mutko and Pukhaev signed the protocol.
  • On April 12, 2019, in Moscow, Russian representation of Intergovernmental Commission of Socio-Economic Cooperation between the Russian Federation and Tskhinvali Region held working session. The Session was led by Mutko. Sergey Cheboratov, Minister of the North Caucasus Affairs of the Russian Federation also attended the session. The following issues were discussed at the session: Investment Program supporting Tskhinvali Region Socio-Economic Development for 2020-2022, ongoing Investment Program implementation, allocating funds for Tkhinvali Region for 2019.
  • On April 19, 2019, the 20th meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission on social-economic cooperation between Russian Federation and Tkhinvali Region was held in Tskhinvali. The Investment Program supporting social-economic development of Tskhinvali Region for 2020-2022 was approved at the meeting. Mutko and Erik Pukhayev, de facto Prime Minister of Tskhinvali Region, chaired the meeting. Anatoly Bibilov, de facto President of Tkhinvali Region, Sergey Chebotarev, Minister of North Caucasus Affairs of the Russian Federation, and Aleksey Filatov, recently appointed Head of the Directorate of the Cross-Border Cooperation also attended the meeting. At the end of the meeting Mutko and Pukhayev signed the 20th intergovernmental Commission protocol.