New Moscow mayor is Putin aide

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev yesterday said he was nominating Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s chief of staff as the new Moscow mayor.

“I want to tell you that I have decided to submit your candidacy to the Moscow city government,” Mr Medvedev told Sergei Sobyanin at a meeting at his country residence of Gorki, which was shown on TV.

Mr Medvedev last month humiliatingly sacked long-serving mayor Yury Luzhkov, saying that he had lost confidence in the 74-year-old city chief, who had led Moscow since 1992.

Mr Luzhkov became mired in corruption accusations and was harshly criticised by the Kremlin over his handling of the smog that veiled the city from wildfires in August. Before his firing, he was targeted in muckraking TV documentaries.

Mr Medvedev praised Sobyanin, 52, as an “experienced manager” and called for him to tackle the city’s most serious problems, naming corruption and snarled traffic.

He also criticised the city government’s use of “schemes that at the least make you question their legality” and said that little had changed in recent years.

Mr Sobyanin, a former governor of the oil-rich Siberian region of Tyumen, was summoned by Mr Putin to head his administration in 2005, and unlike the other short-listed candidates, has spent just five years working in Moscow.

A top member of the ruling United Russia party, he is seen as a pragmatic Putin loyalist. His Siberian roots make him stand out in a government dominated by the prime minister’s longtime contacts from Saint Petersburg, the former imperial capital.

The grey-haired official rarely gives interviews or makes any public statements, making him one of the lowest-profile members of the government.

Analysts called Mr Sobyanin’s nomination predictable, however.

“The choice was expected, he was the favorite of the shortlist,” political analyst Dmitry Badovsky told AFP, adding that Sobyanin’s term as governor of the vast Tyumen region should help him cope with the challenges of Moscow.

“He has experience heading a difficult region, which could be important in developing Moscow’s strategy.”