End of an Era

Yuri Luzhkov falls from favor and his mayoral seat

Over the past decade, politics in Russia has ceased to be a realm for public spectacle, what with Vladimir Putin’s “vertical of power” replacing the free-wheeling Yeltsin years’ ethos of insubordination and political back-biting. That all changed this fall when high drama and political intrigue enfolded Yuri Luzhkov, Moscow’s mayor of 18 years (a period equal to that of Leonid Brezhnev’s tenure as General Secretary of the USSR).

Luzhkov’s style and persona permeated every aspect of the capital, from the countless honey festivals (Luzhkov is a beekeeper) to the Luzhkovian granite and glass edifices that displaced historic buildings. Yet President Dmitry Medvedev sacked the mayor with a decree that cited “lack of confidence” in Luzhkov – harsh words indeed from a president many consider a pawn of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and who has never before fired a governor.

The Luzhkov v. Kremlin bout began with several articles in mayor-friendly newspapers, criticizing recent presidential decisions, followed by a stream of commentary from “unidentified Kremlin sources” regarding Luzhkov’s inappropriate behavior, and a series of reports on state television about corruption in Moscow. Observers have concluded that the mayor’s mortal sin was attempting to sow discord between Putin and Medvedev, which would seem a strange tack for the 74-year-old mayor, who was expected to step down next year in any event, when his term as governor ran out.

Other analysts look to Luzhkov’s wife, Yelena Baturina, as a source of Kremlin ire. Baturina is Russia’s richest woman, having amassed a real estate fortune that some have alleged is the fruit of favored treatment by city officials. Meanwhile, Luzhkov has long been criticized for failing to manage the growing city, whose traffic jams and pollution have risen to global notoriety, while real estate prices remain well beyond the reach of ordinary people.

For Luzhkov, who has far more political experience than either Putin or Medvedev, and nurtures his reputation as a fighter, the firing was an unexpected blow. This man, who in many ways helped Putin to be elected president in 2000,* was apparently not even invited by the president for a face-to-face meeting to discuss their conflict. In a letter to the president sent one day before the decree was signed, Luzhkov explained that he was given an ultimatum to step down or be fired by Medvedev’s chief of staff, Sergei Naryshkin. “In this country, since 1937 people have been afraid to express their opinion... how can this be viewed alongside your calls for developing democracy?” Luzhkov said in defense of opinions he offered via the press.

While Russians tend to sympathize with underdogs (indeed, it was Boris Yeltsin’s firing from the Moscow mayoralty by the Soviet Politburo in 1987 that fueled his rise to power), Luzhkov’s calls for democracy are hypocritical: the mayor was one of the biggest proponents of ending the popular election of governors, and his administration repeatedly disallowed public demonstrations in the capital, leading to their often brutal dispersal by the city police.

Still, Luzhkov, with his ever-present cap and hair-brained ideas (e.g. shooting down snow clouds), will be remembered as a character, and one who was quite popular throughout the 1990s. What is more, his removal likely has little to do with corruption. President Medvedev appointed Luzhkov’s deputy, Vladimir Resin, as acting mayor. Resin, a grey-suited bureaucrat who has worked in City Hall since 1988, is known primarily for his watch, which allegedly cost one million dollars.

* Luzhkov threw his party movement Otechestvo, previously opposed to Putin's government, behind Putin and merged with the Yedinstvo party several months before the election, creating United Russia.