Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov said he wouldn't resign despite a widely reported power struggle with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
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Moscow- Russian President Dmitri Medvedev fired Moscow's larger-than-life mayor on Tuesday, apparently winning--at least for now--a battle with an enormously powerful political opponent.
The mayor, Yuri M. Luzhkov, has ruled Russia's largest and wealthiest city with an unshakeable hand since 1992. He was one of the first political figures swept into power in the early and turbulent post-Soviet years, and the last of the generation that rose to rule alongside Boris N. Yeltsin.
Although the 74-year-old Luzhkov was often criticized - he bulldozed historic buildings to make way for glassy malls and soaring office buildings, and his construction-magnate wife was widely described here as a billionaire and the world's third-richest woman- he seemed untouchable.
That is, until earlier this month when one of Russia's tightly controlled television stations broadcast a program that accused Luzhkov and his wife, Yelena Baturina, of profiting handsomely from the mayoral office and running roughshod over the city.
Luzhkov, an ally of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, had developed a prickly relationship with Medvedev, who labored as president in his prime minister's shadow. But after Luzhkov publicly criticized a Medvedev decision to stop construction of a Luzhkov-backed highway that was to bisect an ancient forest, the fight was on.
Television attacks mounted, and speculation swept Moscow that the dispute between Luzhkov and Medvedev would end in Luzhkov's departure as mayor. Luzhkov, however, returned from a vacation in Vienna, strode into his office on Monday and announced that he had no intention of resigning.
On Tuesday, Medvedev, on a state visit to China, signed a decree saying he had lost confidence in the mayor and was firing him.
The dismissal offered a tantalizing hint to a question that has bedeviled Washington since Medvedev was elected president in 2008, succeeding Putin, who then became prime minister.
Who is Dmitri Medvedev, and what does he stand for?"
Although the 74-year-old Luzhkov was often criticized - he bulldozed historic buildings to make way for glassy malls and soaring office buildings, and his construction-magnate wife was widely described here as a billionaire and the world's third-richest woman- he seemed untouchable.
That is, until earlier this month when one of Russia's tightly controlled television stations broadcast a program that accused Luzhkov and his wife, Yelena Baturina, of profiting handsomely from the mayoral office and running roughshod over the city.
Luzhkov, an ally of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, had developed a prickly relationship with Medvedev, who labored as president in his prime minister's shadow. But after Luzhkov publicly criticized a Medvedev decision to stop construction of a Luzhkov-backed highway that was to bisect an ancient forest, the fight was on.
Television attacks mounted, and speculation swept Moscow that the dispute between Luzhkov and Medvedev would end in Luzhkov's departure as mayor. Luzhkov, however, returned from a vacation in Vienna, strode into his office on Monday and announced that he had no intention of resigning.
On Tuesday, Medvedev, on a state visit to China, signed a decree saying he had lost confidence in the mayor and was firing him.
The dismissal offered a tantalizing hint to a question that has bedeviled Washington since Medvedev was elected president in 2008, succeeding Putin, who then became prime minister.
Who is Dmitri Medvedev, and what does he stand for?"
"It means," said Boris N. Nemtsov, a member of the democratic opposition, "that Medvedev has a chance to be a real president."
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Whoooops....I should have said "Washington Post article". More coffee, please....
ReplyDeletethanks Dave! I doubt this story is over yet. Will be interesting to see how the ex-mayor reacts to be publicly chastised like this.
ReplyDelete