The theme of the conflict of the mayor of Moscow Yuri Luzhkov with the Russian government seems not to yield to any other themes of the political life and perhaps on the TV screens we will view new interesting facts about the business of Luzhkov’s wife Yelena Baturina. So what has happened between great politicians? And what developments can be expected? The interview of 168-Zham relates to this. The interviewee is the director of the Institute of Globalization Issues, PhD of economics, academician of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Russia Mikhail Delyagin.
– So what is actually happening in the elite of Russia? Why is the mayor of Moscow Yuri Luzhkov of no interest to the Kremlin?
– Mayor Yuri Luzhkov has done certain things, which in Russia are incompatible with his post. He gave himself the liberty to say things, which shouldn’t have been ever said and are unacceptable. And if before this there was certain argument about his resignation in the Kremlin, that is part of the elite wanted his resignation and the other part was supporting him, now it seems that a certain consensus is reached in this regard. The Kremlin has clearly decided that a statesman like Luzhkov should be fired from his post because of his behavior. Now the question is in what conditions and terms the resignation should take place. I think that Luzhkov will still stay in his post for awhile but then he will be fired.
– What is concretely the fault of Luzhkov?
– It is known that here in Russia there is a sharp competition between the President and Prime Minister. And this competition is proceeding without spare disguise but often followed by maintenance of certain rules. There are many rules, which do not allow bad things to happen. It means that there is a silent agreement but sometimes certain obstacles are created. However, this never becomes an open conflict or collision. And so Luzhkov breached these rules. His actions of the past days are the best evidence of that. And unfortunately during the past days his behavior and words are open violation of these rules. He was trying to play on certain contradictions of the peaceful tandem of the president and the prime minister but his game was rude and caused the surprise of many people. And in addition to this Luzhkov’s wife is running her business. This is a behavior, which in my opinion doesn’t fit with the criteria of the Russian reality and crosses all the permissible lines. Many bad things may be said about the Russian business. But we should remember that Yelena Baturina has also crossed the limits… Now the problem is that how Luzhkov should be dismissed from his post. This post was decided by the government elite and so the resignation must be fully consented as well.
– During the discussions they also mentioned the version that the incumbent president is interested in ensuring that closer to the upcoming presidential elections “his man” manages Moscow so he could gain more support in the capital city. How close is this assumption to reality?
– The incumbent mayor was providing the support of the Moscow residents. If he’s dismissed with no good reason then the administrative pressure system will reduce and this will further cause free and fair elections in the country. At least free and transparent elections will happen for the first time after 1995. And this is very dangerous.
– Who is it dangerous for?
– For any representative of government, who’d run that race. It doesn’t matter, who this person is.
– Is the dismissal of the mayor already determined or maybe other options exist?
– It is quite determined because with his actions Yuri Luzhkov degraded not the president or the prime minister but the whole state. And as long as the state exists it cannot forgive those things. Perhaps this dismissal will not happen very fast. Perhaps it will not happen tomorrow or the next day or in a year. But Luzhkov already received all the “black stones.”
– How will you assess Luzhkov’s work in the post of the mayor?
– Luzhkov’s work clearly is divided into two phases – before and after 2000. Before 2000 everything was very good and then it became normal. Moscow didn’t turn into bandit Petersburg because Luzhkov didn’t allow to conduct privatization here based on Chubais style. Moscow is the only city, where privatization was conducted with actual money and that is the reason why Moscow is what it is now, where a quarter of Russia’s financial capital is concentrated. If Luzhkov wasn’t there in Moscow we’d have maximum 15% of the whole Russia’s capital. But what had happened after 2000 and whatever the Russian citizens are connecting with Luzhkov’s wife is hard to call anything else but anarchy. You see, when you are exiting the city hall of Moscow on the left you notice the poster of Moscow Bank and on the right the poster of Azerbaijani international bank. It creates certain impression.
– In your opinion what the successor of the current mayor should do? What issues are the most urgent to be solved? And what sectors shouldn’t be touched at all?
– It is necessary to again form the management system. The current system is mostly focused to serve Yuri Luzhkov and his loyalists. You know, when our respected people are saying that Moscow may be managed by Vladimir Putin’s Labrador – Koni then we should add if he does what Luzhkov did, then maybe. But it is impossible to work like Luzhkov, his times are gone. Indeed, they shouldn’t touch the infrastructures that work well. The new mayor should fight against corruption. That is the top objective. But here we should appreciate Luzhkov as in Moscow corruption rates are lower than in nearby areas of Moscow. I think that no one else can compete with the governor.
– The issue of corruption is clear but what shouldn’t the new mayor touch?
– I am not an expert of city management but if in a megalopolis with a population of 14 million everyone is healthy and fine it means something works very well. In this context I don’t agree with the revolutionary viewpoint “let’s destroy and then start over again.” Who needs such an approach? I don’t want revolution, not at all.