Translated material
Of my own reluctance
Yuri Luzhkov removed from the post of mayor of Moscow
The confrontation between Yuri Luzhkov and the Kremlin became the most notable political event in Russia in recent years and ended in the only possible way. Dmitry Medvedev yesterday morning, while on a business trip in Shanghai, for the first time exercised his right to remove regional heads from office due to the loss of confidence of the head of state and dismissed the mayor of Moscow with this damning formulation. The wording itself, the president believes, exhaustively explains the reasons for his decision. “The reason follows from the decree itself. As the President of the Russian Federation, I have lost confidence in Yuri Mikhailovich Luzhkov as the mayor of Moscow,” the head of state told reporters.In the evening, Vladimir Putin fired a “control shot” at the mayor. “Yuri Mikhailovich Luzhkov has done a lot for the development of Moscow, and to a certain extent he is an iconic figure in modern Russia,” the prime minister and leader of United Russia told reporters. - But it is obvious that the relationship between the mayor of Moscow and the president did not work out. Meanwhile, the mayor is a subordinate of the president, and not vice versa, so it was necessary to take the necessary steps in a timely manner to normalize this situation.”
Vladimir Putin, therefore, did not explain whether the federal government had a good relationship with the mayor, and voluntarily gave all the political points from the dismissal of Mr. Luzhkov to President Medvedev, however, promising to take part in the discussion of candidates for the post of mayor of Moscow as the leader of United Russia ". And the head of state actually earned points, even in a field where it was hard to expect. “This morning D. Medvedev for the first time committed a truly presidential act. Sent Luzhkov into resignation for loss of trust. This is the first time that Dmitry Anatolyevich clearly acted independently,” opposition politician Boris Nemtsov wrote on his blog yesterday morning. His colleague Vladimir Milov somewhat naively believes that “the active position of society made a huge contribution to Luzhkov’s resignation.” “We have been seeking his resignation for a long time. And they achieved their goal,” he notes in his blog. However, it is also true that if the mood in society had been firmly in favor of Luzhkov, Dmitry Medvedev would have thought several more times about whether it was worth aggravating relations with the mayor.
Vremya Novostei's source in the Kremlin, when asked about the specific reasons for the loss of confidence in the now former mayor, emphasizes that the head of state also has questions regarding economic activities, but the main reason for the resignation is political. The newspaper’s interlocutor says that the decisive role was played by the article “Competition around Moscow” published on September 1 in Moskovsky Komsomolets, the author of which, for example, stated: “The change of the leader of Moscow, loyal to the prime minister and who worked a lot with him to stabilize the situation not only in the capital, but throughout Russia, it opens the way to a colorful revolt, whose deceptive euphoria the Russian people have not yet experienced, and therefore can succumb to it.” The Kremlin, apparently, rightly considered that the article was inspired by Luzhkov and his circle.
It is unknown who gave the mayor the advice to escalate the situation and try to create a conflict between Medvedev and Putin over his person. Perhaps this is his own initiative. However, it became a decisive mistake for Luzhkov, and only gave the Kremlin confidence that it was time to retire the mayor. What happened next was a matter of bureaucratic technique and political technology, which individual Kremlin leaders successfully implemented even during the previous battle with the mayor in 1999. After the “volley” on TV channels, the mayor was summoned to the Kremlin, where the head of the presidential administration, Sergei Naryshkin, and his first deputy, Vladislav Surkov, recommended that the mayor leave voluntarily. They agreed that the mayor would take a vacation and think about it. During this vacation, President Medvedev met with his first deputy mayor, Vladimir Resin, and warned that he would probably have to serve as mayor for some more time. Luzhkov returned and said that he would not leave voluntarily - the answer was yesterday's decree. Medvedev’s press secretary Natalya Timakova confirms that the head of state will not have any meetings with the “former mayor”.
Vladimir Putin very accurately defined the essence of the problem: “the relationship between the mayor of Moscow and the president did not work out.” There is a lot of evidence of this. Suffice it to say, for example, that Mayor Luzhkov’s last official audience with President Medvedev took place on July 29, 2009 (since then they met as part of various events, but there were no “protocol” meetings). The president really needed the mayor only once, when last spring it became clear that without the involvement of Moscow builders, the reconstruction of the Bolshoi Theater could be abandoned. Since in the past Luzhkov was greatly “offended” when distributing roles in the restoration of the Bolshoi, it was necessary to contact him personally. But Mr. Medvedev flatly refused to do this himself, entrusting it to the administration staff. Luzhkov “ate” this too and immediately turned the reconstruction of the theater into a big PR performance.
The reluctance to communicate with Luzhkov is very similar to the circumstances of the resignation of Sergei Stepashin from the post of prime minister in 1999. Then Boris Yeltsin categorically refused to meet with Stepashin, believing that the head of the administration would be able to notify him of his dismissal. But if Yeltsin still had to endure an unpleasant conversation with Stepashin, Luzhkov was notified of the decision by Sergei Naryshkin on Monday evening. The problem is the same: the person being fired is firmly convinced that the president is wrong, although he only needs to understand that his continued tenure in office is impossible.
Yuri Luzhkov never understood this and continues to fight - this is evidenced by the text of his extremely harsh letter addressed to the President of Russia that appeared yesterday on the website of The New Times magazine.
Dmitry Medvedev commented on his most high-profile personnel decision while still in Shanghai. “The current law - it was adopted several years ago - directly establishes loss of confidence as one of the grounds for dismissal or, in the terminology of the law, removal from office,” the president said. According to him, it is difficult to imagine that the head of state and the governor could work in conditions where “the president - the highest official - does not have confidence in this or that official, this or that leader of the region. Which is exactly what happened.” Mr. Medvedev did not rule out that he might apply the wording of removal from office due to loss of confidence to other regional heads.
Natalya Timakova told reporters in Shanghai that Mr. Luzhkov had two options to leave his post - to resign voluntarily, writing a statement of his own free will, or by decision of the president, but with strict wording. “Draw your own conclusions,” noted Ms. Timakova.
In United Russia, whose leadership was unable to determine its attitude to the situation around the mayor of Moscow (the Moscow branch of the party unequivocally supported Yuri Luzhkov, the federal party leadership never formulated a position), the resignation was perceived as an order.
“The head of state had reasons for this, and, unfortunately, Yuri Mikhailovich, as mayor, gave the president a reason for such a decision,” said Boris Gryzlov, chairman of the Supreme Council of United Russia. “On September 23, 2010, at a meeting between the leadership of the United Russia party and the President of Russia on the issue of presenting lists of candidates for the positions of leaders of the Tyumen region and the Republic of Mordovia, we could not help but touch upon another personnel issue - the position of mayor of Moscow. The President expressed his position to us,” Mr. Gryzlov emphasized, making it clear that it was then that the party leadership was informed about the impending resignation of the capital’s mayor. “The president’s decision is not discussed. It is being fulfilled,” Vyacheslav Volodin, secretary of the presidium of the general council of the party in power, was even more categorical.
A peer and closest member of Mr. Luzhkov's team, 74-year-old Vice Mayor Vladimir Resin, who was appointed acting mayor, will obviously not remain in this post. United Russia, as a party with a majority in the regional parliament, in accordance with the law, begins consultations on the list of candidates for mayor of Moscow. There must be at least three of them. The President has the right to agree with any candidate from the list or propose his own candidate for approval by the Moscow City Duma.
Consultations of United Russia on the candidacy of a new mayor of Moscow will begin in the near future, said Elena Panina, secretary of the political council of the Moscow city regional branch of the party, State Duma deputy. “We expect that Moscow will maintain the same social policy that was pursued. It is very important that people understand this,” she emphasized. According to some information, the presidium of the General Council of United Russia may approve candidates for the post of mayor as early as Thursday.
The press service of the mayor and government of Moscow yesterday distributed a letter from Yuri Luzhkov to the party's Supreme Council, in which the ex-mayor announced his resignation from the ranks of United Russia and explained the reasons for his action. In particular, he stated that he had “recently been subjected to a fierce attack by the state media.” “These attacks were connected with the task of eliminating the mayor of Moscow from the political arena, depriving him of his powers ahead of schedule. For more than a month I was subjected to wild persecution, which by its nature goes beyond the bounds of decency and common sense,” writes Mr. Luzhkov. At the same time, United Russia and its highest bodies “did not provide any support to the party member, did not show any desire to understand and stop the flow of lies and slander.” Nevertheless, Mr. Luzhkov thanked the Moscow branch of the party, which “strongly supported the mayor of Moscow in the current situation.” “In connection with the above, I ask that you no longer consider me a member of the United Russia party,” said the former mayor.