United Russia on Saturday proposed Transport Minister Igor Levitin, Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Sobyanin, Nizhny Novgorod Region Governor Valery Shantsev, and First Deputy Mayor of Moscow Lyudmila Shvetsova as the four leading candidates for the position of Moscow's new mayor.
Information about the candidates is the following.
* Sergei Sobyanin
Born in 1958 in the village of Nyaksimvol, Tyumen Region (West Siberia).
Graduated from Kostroma Technology Institute in 1980 and the All-Union Correspondence Law Institute in 1989; PhD in Law.
Sobyanin started work at the Chelyabinsk tube and pipe mill in 1975 and held various government and party jobs until 1990.
In 1991 he became mayor of Kogalym in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous District and in 1993 headed the district's administration.
In 1994-2000 he was a member of the Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian parliament, and in 2001 was elected governor of the Tyumen Region,
In 2005 Sobyanin was appointed presidential chief of staff and in 2008 became deputy prime minister
* Valery Shantsev
Born in 1947 in the village of Susanino, Kostroma region (Volga area).
Graduated from the Moscow University of Radio Technology, Electronics and Automatic Control Engineering in 1971. Later he graduated from the Academy of National Economy.
In 1971 Shantsev joined the Communist Party and later held various party jobs
In 1987 he was elected member of the Moscow Legislative Assembly and in 1994 headed the Moscow South Administrative district
In 1996 Shatsev became deputy Moscow mayor and in 2005 was appointed governor of the Nizhny Novgorod Region (Volga area).
* Igor Levitin
Born in 1952 in the village of Tsebrikovo, Ukraine
Graduated from the Khrulev Military Academy of Logistics and Transport in 1983; PhD in Economics
In 1973-1980 he served in the Soviet armed forces
In 1985-1994 he was a military commandant and deputy head of Moscow Military Railway Communications Service
In 1994-1996 Levitin was a member of the Railways Reform commission, which created the Russian Railways Company
In 1996-2004 he worked for Severstaltrans and became the company's deputy director in 1998
In 2004 Levitin was appointed transport minister
* Lyudmila Shvetsova
Born in 1949 in Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan.
Graduated from Kharkov Aviation Institute in 1973 and then became a post graduate student at the Moscow State Social University; PhD in Political Science
In 1973, she joined the Antonov design bureau in Kiev
In 1981-1992 Shvetsova held various party jobs
In 1994-2000 she headed of the Moscow government's committee of public and interregional relations and was appointed Moscow deputy mayor in 2001
MOSCOW, October 9 (RIA Novosti)
