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Trusted allies: why Putin won't fire sports minister over doping scandal
Source: Reuters
Life | Thu Jul 21, 2016 6:32am EDT
Trusted allies: why Putin won't fire sports minister over doping scandal
MOSCOW | BY DENIS PINCHUK AND DMITRIY ROGOVITSKIY
President Vladimir Putin risks personal humiliation if all Russian competitors are banned from the Rio Olympics over doping, as now seems possible; yet the man on whose watch this may happen, Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko, is not being fired.
The reason: Mutko has delivered victories on the sports field for the past decade and a half to match Putin's ambition of restoring national pride, and the Russian leader stands by the people who give him loyal service.
"Putin trusts him. Putin knows you can work with Mutko," said Mikhail Amosov, who had dealings with both men when they worked in the mayor's office in St Petersburg in the 1990s.
Putin's patience with his subordinate is undergoing its severest test this week after an independent report alleged that Mutko's own deputy was a lynchpin in a program to facilitate doping by covering up athletes' positive test results.
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Trusted allies: why Putin won't fire sports minister over doping scandal
MOSCOW | BY DENIS PINCHUK AND DMITRIY ROGOVITSKIY
President Vladimir Putin risks personal humiliation if all Russian competitors are banned from the Rio Olympics over doping, as now seems possible; yet the man on whose watch this may happen, Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko, is not being fired.
The reason: Mutko has delivered victories on the sports field for the past decade and a half to match Putin's ambition of restoring national pride, and the Russian leader stands by the people who give him loyal service.
"Putin trusts him. Putin knows you can work with Mutko," said Mikhail Amosov, who had dealings with both men when they worked in the mayor's office in St Petersburg in the 1990s.
Putin's patience with his subordinate is undergoing its severest test this week after an independent report alleged that Mutko's own deputy was a lynchpin in a program to facilitate doping by covering up athletes' positive test results.
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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-sport-doping-russia-mutko-idUSKCN1010XC