Sergei Sobyanin
Sergei Sobyanin has been an important figure in Russian politics, notably serving as the Mayor of Moscow since October 2010. He was re-elected in 2018. He is a member of the Security Council. In 2010, President Dmitry Medvedev fired Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov. Sobyanin was one of four candidates proposed to the president to replace Luzhkov. He was elected mayor on 21 October 2010. Sergei Semyonovich Sobyanine has close ties with Vladimir Putin. He was head of the presidential administration from 2005 to 2008 and served as Deputy Prime Minister of Russia from 2008 to 2010 in Vladimir Putin’s Second Cabinet.
On 01 March 2022, Sobyanine warned that all attempts and calls by “provocateurs” to hold street protests in Moscow would be prevented. At the 18 March 2022 political rally “for a world without Nazism”, he explicitly expressed support for the “special military operation” in Ukraine. Oterwise, Sobyanin had "precious little to say about Russia’s war against Ukraine. Over the past four months of the full-scale invasion, he has hardly made any public statements about the progress and consequences of the so-called “special operation.” Meanwhile, his counterparts in other regions (like St. Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov, for example) have been toeing the line and parroting Kremlin propaganda narratives about “fighting Nazis” in Ukraine.... Sobyanin has instead “buried himself” in work in the Russian capital and is deliberately trying to distance himself from the war." as Meduza special correspondent Andrey Pertsev learned.
Before this role, he had held various governmental positions in both regional and federal capacities. As the mayor, Sobyanin initiated various infrastructure and urban renewal projects in Moscow, such as the expansion of public transportation networks, renovations of public spaces, and efforts to combat traffic congestion. He also managed the city during significant events and challenges, including protests and the COVID-19 pandemic.
His tenure had seen both praise and criticism. Proponents laud the positive changes and modernization that Moscow has seen under his leadership, while critics point to issues related to governance, transparency, and handling of opposition.
Previously - Deputy Prime Minister and Chief of Staff of the Government of the Russian Federation (2008-2010), Head of the Administration of Russian President Vladimir Putin (2005-2008), Head of the Administration of the Tyumen Region (2001-2005), First Deputy Plenipotentiary Representative of the President in the Ural Federal District (2000), Chairman of the Duma of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug and head of the Federation Council Committee on Constitutional Legislation and Judicial-Legal Issues (1996-2000), Deputy Head of the Administration of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug (1993), Head of the Administration of the city of Kogalym ( 1990-1993). From February 2009 to June 2011, he was also Chairman of the Board of Directors of Channel One OJSC. Member of the Supreme Council of the United Russia party since 2001,
Sergei Semenovich Sobyanin was born on June 21, 1958 in the village of Nyaksimvol, Berezovsky district, Tyumen region. In 1975 he moved to Chelyabinsk. He worked at the Chelyabinsk Pipe Rolling Plant and studied at the correspondence department of the mechanical faculty of the Kostroma Institute of Technology. In 1980 he graduated from the institute, headed a team of turners, and became a workshop foreman. In 1982 he went to work at the Leninsky district committee of the Komsomol.
In 1984, Sobyanin was sent to the village of Kogalym, Khanty-Mansiysk Okrug, Tyumen Region (since 1985 - a city). In 1984-88 he headed the housing and communal services service of Kogalym, in 1988-90 he was deputy head of the organizational department of the Khanty-Mansiysk District Committee of the CPSU. In 1990, he headed the tax inspectorate of Kogalym. In 1991, by order of the head of the administration of the Khanty-Mansiysk Okrug, Alexander Filipenko, was appointed head of the administration of Kogalym.
In 1993, Filipenko made Sobyanin his first deputy, and in 1994 ensured his election as speaker of the district Duma. In January 1996, Sobyanin became a member of the upper house of the Russian parliament - the Federation Council. In October of the same year, he was re-elected speaker of the Khanty-Mansiysk Duma. In June 1998, he headed the Federation Council Committee on Constitutional Legislation and Judicial and Legal Issues. In July 2000, he was appointed first deputy to Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Ural Federal District, Pyotr Latyshev .
On January 14, 2001, Sobyanin was elected governor of the Tyumen region, receiving more than 52 percent of the vote. In December 2001, he was elected a member of the supreme council of the all-Russian party "Unity and Fatherland" - United Russia , later renamed the all-Russian political party "United Russia".
In January 2005, after the law abolishing gubernatorial elections came into force, Sobyanin ahead of schedule raised the question of his credibility with Russian President Vladimir Putin . That same month, Putin approved his candidacy and submitted it for consideration to the Tyumen Regional Duma. In February, the Duma unanimously voted for Sobyanin. In October 2005, the Tyumen governor joined the Council under the President of the Russian Federation for the implementation of priority national projects.
On December 14, 2005, Putin appointed Sobyanin head of the presidential administration of the Russian Federation. In this post, he replaced Dmitry Medvedev , who became First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation.
In March 2008, Medvedev won the presidential elections. On May 7, 2008, his inauguration took place, and Sobyanin became the acting head of the presidential administration of the Russian Federation. That same month, he was appointed deputy prime minister and chief of staff of the government headed by Putin.
In October 2010, at the suggestion of Medvedev, Moscow City Duma deputies approved Sobyanin as the new mayor of Moscow instead of Yuri Luzhkov , who was dismissed in September due to loss of confidence.
Sobyanin is married and has two daughters.
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