Vitaly Leontiyevich Mutko (; born Viktor Leontiyevich Mutko; 8 December 1958) is a Russian politician who served as the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia from 2016–2020. From 2008 to 2016, he served as the Minister of Sport of Russia. Biography Mutko was born on 8 December 1958 in the stanitsa of Kurinskaya of Apsheronsky District in Krasnodar Krai in the Soviet Union. He started working as a technician on shipping vessels in 1977. In 1983, he was selected to work for the executive committee of Kirov district of Leningrad. He attended the in Leningrad, graduating from the River Vocational College in 1987. Before graduating from College, Mutko changed his name from Victor to Vitaly. In 1990, he was appointed as a member of the district council and the head of the district administration a year later. He also graduated from the Law Department of Saint Petersburg State University in 1999. In 1992, he became the deputy mayor of Saint Petersburg as well as the chairman of the City Committee on Social Issues. He served in both the positions until 1996. Along with Vladimir Putin in 1994, who at the time headed the city mayor's committee for external relations, he helped organize the 1994 Goodwill Games which was the first major sporting event in Russia since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. He also moved into sports administration and became the president of FC Zenit Saint Petersburg in 1997. During his tenure, he oversaw the club's rise to sporting prominence as well as economic transformation. He founded the Russian Premier League in 2001 and became its President, a position which he held until 2003. He was appointed to the committee of Russian Paralympic Committee in 2002 and has also chaired committees and charities for helping people with mental disabilities. On 29 October 2003, he became a member of the upper house of the Russian parliament, representing the Saint Petersburg government. He was elected as the President of Russian Football Union in April 2005, a position in which he served until November 2009. Meanwhile, in 2006, he defended his doctoral thesis on "Correlation of Market and Public Regulators in the Development of Physical Culture and Sport" at the St. Petersburg State University and received a doctorate in economics. He was appointed as the Minister of Sport, Tourism and Youth Policy on 12 May 2008 by President Dmitry Medvedev. He was appointed as