Tuesday 19 July 2016 16:52, UK
FIFA has promised it will take "appropriate measures" against Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko if it is satisfied he was personally involved in the country's doping scandal.
Mutko, the president of the Russian Football Union and chairman of the organising committee of the 2018 World Cup in Russia, has been a member of FIFA's Council (formerly known as the executive committee) since 2009.
But the 57-year-old's position in world sport is under threat after he was implicated in Richard McLaren's devastating report into state-directed doping in Russia.
Set up by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in response to media reports of widespread cheating at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, the report said more than 30 different sports, including football, had benefited from various schemes to cheat anti-doping rules directed from Mutko's ministry.
The Canadian law professor's report said it was "inconceivable" that Mutko did not know what was going on and accused him of personally intervening to cover up a positive test belonging to a foreign player in the Russian Premier League.
WADA issued a statement later on Monday with seven recommendations, including one for FIFA that its "ethics committee look into allegations concerning football and the role played by a member of its executive committee, Vitaly Mutko".
Spokespeople from FIFA and FIFA's independent ethics committee said the two bodies would be asking WADA for the details of the Mutko allegations before deciding what to do, with the ethics committee taking the lead on any disciplinary action.
"If the report reveals violations of the FIFA code of ethics, the investigatory chamber will take appropriate measures and inform accordingly," the ethics committee spokesman said.
Mutko, who has been Russia's sports minister since 2008 and has played a huge role in the country's hosting of numerous major sports events in recent years, has received a vote of confidence from his boss, Vladimir Putin.
The Russian president acted quickly to suspend all other leading officials mentioned in McLaren's report, including Mutko's deputy Yuri Nagornykh, but the minister himself has survived.
According to official news agency TASS, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "Mutko was not mentioned in WADA's report as a person behind the wrongdoings... He is not mentioned as an actual perpetrator."
And following publication of the report, Mutko reiterated his belief that no state-backed doping had taken place.
Quoted by the Interfax news agency, Mutko said: "I can say once again, there are no state doping schemes in Russia."
