Mutko, however, is expected to retain overall control of sport in his new position and will also assume responsibility for tourism and youth.

The appointment was approved today by Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

Mutko will be one of nine people holding the position of Deputy Prime Minister. 

The new appointment illustrates the important role 57-year-old Mutko is expected to play in the country as it prepares to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

He will also retain his position as head of the Russian Football Union and as a member of FIFA's ruling Executive Council. 

Mutko, Russia's Sports Minister since 2008, has been at the centre of the doping controversy which has engulfed Russian sport in the last year.

Last November the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Independent Commission chaired by Richard Pound accused Mutko of likely complicity in a wide-ranging, doping scheme within Russian track and field. 

Pound claimed "it was impossible for him [Mutko] not to be aware of it". 

"And if he’s aware of it, he’s complicit in it," he added.

It was further alleged that Mutko's agency had undue influence over the Russian Anti-Doping Agency that should operate independently from influence of Government or governing bodies.

Mutko was also named in the McLaren Report published in July, which claimed Russia had manipulated the drugs results of its competitors at the 2014 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in Sochi. 

He was also accused of ordering the cover-up of a failed drug test by a foreign football player.

As a result, Mutko was banned by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) from attending Rio 2016.

The 47-year-old Kolobkov is a five-time Olympic medallist, including a gold in the individual épée at Sydney 2000. 

He has also won five World Championship gold medals, including the individual épée in 1993, 1994, 2002 and 2005. 

Kolobkov has been Russia's Deputy Sports Minister since 2010 and was Russia's Chef de Mission at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. 

His immediate tasks will include having to deal with what emerges in the second McLaren Report, due to be published in the next few weeks.

The WADA Independent Commission, chaired by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren, is expected to include more damning evidence about state-sponsored doping in Russia and it could lead to the country facing further sanctions from the IOC. 

Russia is already banned by the International Association of Athletics Federations from competing abroad following allegations uncovered by Pound in his Independent Commission report. 

Last week it was revealed that Alexander Zhukov plans to step down as President of the Russian Olympic Committee.

That means he could lose his position as a member of the IOC.