Last days mayor of Moscow

The powerful mayor of Moscow, Yurij Luzhkov, has departed "on holidays" amid a smear campaign the likes of which the city has not seen since the 19990s.

Some weeks ago, the state-controlled television showed a series of documentaries alleging that Luzhkov is corrupt and abusing his power.

Julia Ioffe (FP, 17 Sep. 2010) describes the situation as follows: Yurij Luzkov is the only mayor Moscow has ever really known in the post-Soviet period, a figure whose control extends into every corner of the city's life. He is Moscow's boss, which is precisely the problem: There can only be one boss in Moscow, and his name is Vladimir Putin.

And here's the other side of that problem: Luzhkov has been in charge since before Vladimir Vladimirovich even thought of going into politics, and well before he got to Moscow. Luzhkov, on the other hand, has been helping run the city since the Soviet era. He started off as the reformist head of the Moscow city council during the perestroika years, and was appointed mayor by then President Boris Yeltsin in June 1992. But as Luzhkov brought the chaotic capital to order after the collapse of the Soviet Union, he was also put in charge of privatizing huge swaths of Moscow property -- making his real-estate developer wife (and former city council assistant 27 years his junior), Elena Baturina, Russia's wealthiest woman in the process.

Yet, as long as Luzhkov supported Putin politically, he could keep his seat. President Dmitriy Medveded, however, has been pushing Luzhkov into retirement since the beginning of his term.

Luzhkov is the final remaining "heavyweight" regional leader who has survived in power since the 1990s. Yet, according Julia Ioffe, the Kremlin cannot simply fire Luzhkov as the Luzhkov machine, woven together not only by money but by family times, is still alive and well, and the state needs it on its side. Making an enemy of Luzhkov and his army would be a disaster, especially when it comes time to vote next fall.

With the mayor now “on holidays” in Austria, some Russian analysts suspect that he and his wife might not return to Moscow, choosing a comfortable life in exile over potential court proceedings in Russia.

To be continued..