Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko will oversee preparations for a UN conference next year, less than a week after being sidelined from preparations for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.
Mutko was ordered to resign as head of Russia’s World Cup Organizing Committee last Friday after facing increasing pressure over allegations that he oversaw a state-sponsored doping scheme at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
The former sports minister will now lead the organizing committee for a UN World Tourism Organization General Assembly in St. Petersburg in 2019, according to a governmental decree cited by the Kommersant business daily on Tuesday.
Last month, Mutko announced he would temporarily step down from his role as the head of Russia’s Football Union, saying he would focus on fighting his Olympics doping ban.
Russia denies accusations of running a state-sponsored doping scheme at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi.
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