FIFA has barred Russian deputy prime minister
, chief organiser of the 2018 World Cup, from sitting on the world football's ruling council after he failed an eligibility test.
Mutko, who has also been accused of involvement in Russia's sports doping scandal, had been a candidate for a European seat on the FIFA Council to be decided in April.
Mutko, 58, has had a seat on the FIFA top table since 2009. He was barred from standing again because of potential conflicts of interest with his government role, a source close to FIFA said.
The Russian official, an ally of President Vladimir Putin, said he would not appeal against the decision by a FIFA review committee.
"They want the organisation to be politically neutral, so that civil servants and representatives of the authorities of different countries don't run in all bodies. It is their right," Mutko told TASS news agency.
FIFA's ethics code prohibits political interference in football affairs and the world body has in the past suspended national federations where governments have been judged to have taken control.
Mutko's FIFA seat is up for re-election in April and all candidates must be vetted by a review committee under new rules brought in after world football's corruption scandal.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko who is apparently the head of the Russian Football Union (RFU), had failed an eligibility test carried out by the FIFA review committee was one of five European candidates for seats on the FIFA Council to be decided in April.
FIFA and UEFA could not immediately be reached for comment.
Mutko, however, shrugged off the decision, which he said would have no effect on the World Cup to be staged next year, and said he would not appeal.
"The committee's decision has no bearing on that," Mutko told the Russian news agency TASS.
"I wanted to be re-elected but now the FIFA... has somewhat changed the criteria. A new criteria, political neutrality, has been introduced. This is their right."
"This is public work, everything is normal," he added
