Background
Yuri Luzhkov is a son of a Carpenter Yuri Mikhailovich Luzhkov was born in Moscow on September 21, 1936.
Yuri Luzhkov is a son of a Carpenter Yuri Mikhailovich Luzhkov was born in Moscow on September 21, 1936.
His father was a carpenter, but Luzhkov preferred mechanical engineering and studied at the Gubkin Institute of Oil, Gas, and Chemical Industries.
By combining his education with his interests, he landed a job in the Ministry of the Chemical Industry in 1964.
Yuri Luzhkov, mayor of Moscow since his appointment by Boris Yeltsin in 1992, is a reformer who directly involves city government with the interests of private economic enterprises. Perhaps more important, he seems to have an intuitive sense of knowing what issues to champion, which people to support, and when to be in the public eye.
He has made it clear to his subordinates and to Muscovites alike that he is the man in charge of the city.
At times, he appears to be the ruler of a near-independent city-state.
He has also made efforts to develop the infrastructure of the city.
Soon, however, he became more interested in government.
For the next 13 years, he occupied a series of managerial positions in the ministry.
Luzhkov's opportunities to advance were improved after the fall of the Soviet Union when he was appointed deputy to Gavril Popov, the first mayor of Moscow in post-Communist Russia.
After a year, it was apparent that Popov was more interested in politics than the management of Moscow.
Luzhkov is also extremely popular with the ten million residents of Moscow.
He won re-election in June of 1996 with nearly 90 percent of the vote.
"His popularity began when people began to get tired of politics, " Andrei Klochkov, an analyst at the Russian Socio-Political Center told U. S. News & World Report writer Christian Caryl.
"He is known to Muscovites simply as 'The Boss, '" noted Charles Piggott and Askold Krushelnycky in the European.
Under Luzhkov's direction new subway stations have opened, rutted roads have been paved, and Moscow is now surrounded by a ten-lane superhighway.
He has also had an estimated 32 million square feet of new apartment space built each year.
In 1994, Yeltsin gave Luzhkov control over Moscow's inventory of state property.
In 1997, Moscow took in $1 billion in privatization revenues.
Luzhkov has become such a powerful Russian leader that he has even gotten involved in affairs outside Moscow.
The housing was to be funded by the Moscow city government.
He also announced that the port should be returned to Russia, infuriating Ukrainian government officials and embarrassing Yeltsin.
In addition, Luzhkov has come out in support of union with Belarus, the small former Soviet republic in east central Europe.
Successful and Supportive Governing Style Luzhkov runs Moscow by defining clear duties among his team, and he prohibits city officials from encroaching on each other's area of responsibility.
Consequently, factions have not developed that can potentially disrupt the operation of city government.
Although Luzhkov has issued public reprimands to his team leaders, he will support them during times of controversy.
Among his advisors is Vladimir Yevtushenkov the head of a joint-stock company called the Moscow City Committee for Science and Technology.
Alleged Ties to Crime Although credited with much of the reform occurring in Moscow, Luzhkov is also being blamed for the increasing crime in the city.
Luzhkov has responded to this criticism by putting approximately 5, 000 law-enforcement volunteers on the streets of the city.
The presence of organized crime has resulted in more frequent reports of kickbacks, car bombs, and contract murders.
Yet such allegations have not discouraged Luzhkov's supporters.
"Perhaps Luzhkov is on the take, " a Russian anti-corruption politician told Time contributor Paul Quinn-Judge.
"But he is getting this place into shape.
So why should I waste my time on him?
Others do nothing but steal. "
Another blemish on Luzhkov's mayoral record is Moscow's growing homeless population, officially numbering approximately 100, 000 in 1997 but probably much higher.
Luzhkov has overseen mass expulsions of the homeless from the city and the alleged "roughing-up" of the darker-skinned minorities.
This has resulted in criticism from international human-rights groups.
"For all its crime and corruption and bureaucracy, Moscow has by far the best-developed infrastructure in Russia, and a government that understands roughly how laws and markets work, " noted the Economist.
Yet his rise to the country's top spots is not guaranteed.
He cannot afford to antagonize incumbent leaders, yet he must distance himself from them and many of their policies.
More than anything else, this earned him Yeltsin's gratitude.
Luzhkov has continued to profess admiration for Yeltsin and supported him against unpopular voices within the remains of the Communist party.
Yet, at times, he distances himself from the president.
Luzhkov has also distanced himself from many unpopular reforms supported by Yeltsin, has criticized ministers and their mistakes, and has publicly disclosed corrupt practices.
Still, he maintains access to all Russian leaders.
Luzhkov continues to expand his public image into the international arena.
In order to broaden his appeal to those outside Moscow, Luzhkov is trying to make the television station national.
Leaders in the Russian hinterland have been suspicious of Luzhkov and jealous of Moscow's new prosperity.
Luzhkov is becoming more aware that his age might be a political liability.
By 2000, he will be 64 years old, the same age of Yeltsin in 1996 when Russia's government was at a standstill as it waited out the president's fight with poor health.
Every winter, he breaks the ice in the Moscow River and plunges in for a supposedly healthy swim.
The December elections were seen as an informal referendum on Luzhkov's potential as a presidential candidate.
Yuri Luzhkov belonged to different parties: CPSU (1968-1991), Fatherland (1998-2001), United Russia (2001-2010)
Yuri Luzhkov is not only a technically good city manager, owing, in part, to his background in engineering, but he is considered a good manager of people.
Luzhkov married his first wife, Marina Bashilova, in 1958. He met his second wife, Yelena Baturina, 27 years his junior, in 1987. They married in 1991.
