President Medvedev appointed a new mayor of Moscow on Friday. This happens three weeks after he eliminated a more independent politician out of office. Sergi S. Sobyanin, who is a deputy prime minister and chief of staff to prime minster Putin is the new mayor. He is basically unknown to the public, but has close ties to the Kremlin. The new mayors close ties with Putin ended speculation the Medvedev would use this nomination to further himself from Putin, because when the president first got rid of the previous mayor Yuri M. Luzhkov it was being said that this was how he was putting his "stamp" on the presidency, instead of being overshadowed by Putin. But, Medvedev, supposedly, wouldn't do something like this without Putin's approval, and this decision clearly shows how influential Putin was to this decision. Sabyanin still needs to be approved by the by the Moscow city council, but that is dominated by Putin's ruling party, so it will do nothing more then a formality. The previous mayor was in office since shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union, and was fired after raising questions regarding Medvedev's leadership.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/16/world/europe/16moscow.html?ref=world
By: Kathleen Tite
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