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Kremlin official justifies president's pick for Moscow mayor

© RIA Novosti . Sergei Guneev / Go to the mediabankSergei Sobyanin
Sergei Sobyanin - Sputnik International
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Sergei Sobyanin, a top manager of the ruling United Russia party, will ensure close cooperation between Moscow's administration and the federal authorities and strengthen the party's positions in the capital, a senior Kremlin official said.

Sergei Sobyanin, a top manager of the ruling United Russia party, will ensure close cooperation between Moscow's administration and the federal authorities and strengthen the party's positions in the capital, a senior Kremlin official said.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Friday proposed Deputy Prime Minister Sobyanin as the Russian capital's new mayor.

"Sobyanin is an excellent political strategist, and he will strengthen positions of the party [the United Russia] in Moscow," said Vladislav Surkov, First Deputy Chief of Staff of the President of the Russian Federation.

"By choosing a top manager of the United Russia...President Medvedev practically stated that he has trust in this party," Surkov said in an interview with the Vzglyad newspaper published on Saturday.

Medvedev sacked long-serving mayor Yury Luzhkov on September 28, citing a "loss of trust." State media had previously accused him and his businesswoman wife of massive corruption.

Analysts say there is little doubt that the Moscow Duma will approve 52-year-old Sobyanin, who was head of the presidential administration under first Putin and then Medvedev from 2005-2008 and ran Medvedev's presidential election campaign in 2008.

Direct elections for Moscow mayor and governors across Russia were scrapped in 2004.

 

MOSCOW, October 17 (RIA Novosti)

 

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