Putin just made the sports minister who presided over Russia's doping scandal deputy prime minister

Reuters

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko, who has come under scrutiny in Russia's doping scandal, has been promoted to a deputy prime minister.

State news agency Tass says President Vladimir Putin approved a proposal by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to appoint Mutko to a deputy premiership in charge of sport, tourism and youth policies.

The promotion comes despite Mutko having been personally accused by World Anti-Doping Agency investigator Richard McLaren of ordering the cover-up of a failed drug test by a foreign soccer player.

Mutko was also denied accreditation to the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in August by the IOC after being named in the McLaren report.

Mutko's anti-doping adviser, Nataliya Zhelanova, and one of his deputies at the sports ministry, Yuri Nagornykh, have been suspended ever since McLaren accused them of helping to orchestrate cover-ups of hundreds of drug tests.

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