Sergey Semyonovich Sobyanin (russian: link=no, Сергей Семёнович Собянин; born 21 June 1958) is a Russian politician, serving as the 3rd

Mayor of Moscow The Mayor of Moscow (russian: Мэр Москвы, Mer Moskvy) is the head and the highest-ranking official of Moscow, who leads the Government of Moscow, the main executive body of the city. Moscow is both a city and separate federal sub ...

since 21 October 2010. Sobyanin previously served as the Governor of

Tyumen Oblast Tyumen Oblast (russian: Тюме́нская о́бласть, ''Tyumenskaya oblast'') is a federal subject (an oblast) of Russia. It is geographically located in the Western Siberia region of Siberia, and is administratively part of the Urals ...

(2001–2005), Head of the

presidential administration The term administration, as used in the context of government, differs according to the jurisdiction under which it operates. In general terms, administration can be described as a decision making body. United States In American usage, the ter ...

(2005–2008) and Deputy

Prime Minister of Russia The chairman of the government of the Russian Federation, also informally known as the prime minister, is the nominal head of government of Russia. Although the post dates back to 1905, its current form was established on 12 December 1993 fo ...

(2008–2010 in

Vladimir Putin's Second Cabinet Vladimir Putin's Second Cabinet (May 2008 – May 2012) was a cabinet of the government of the Russian Federation following the 2008 Russian presidential election that resulted in the election of Dmitry Medvedev as the third President of Russia. ...

). Sobyanin is a member of the ruling

United Russia United Russia ( rus, Единая Россия, Yedinaya Rossiya, (j)ɪˈdʲinəjə rɐˈsʲijə) is a Conservatism in Russia, Russian conservative List of political parties in Russia, political party. As the largest party in Russia, it hold ...

political party, and is elected to its higher governing bodies, current member of presidium of Regional Council of the United Russia in Moscow and the head (political council secretary) of the party's Moscow branch from March 2011 to December 2012. He is considered to be a close ally to Russian billionaire businessman Vladimir Bogdanov, Director General of Surgutneftegas. As the Mayor of Moscow, Sobyanin has gradually relaxed the massive construction projects of his predecessor

Yury Luzhkov Yury Mikhailovich Luzhkov ( rus, Ю́рий Миха́йлович Лужко́в, p=ˈjʉrʲɪj mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪtɕ lʊˈʂkof; 21 September 1936 – 10 December 2019) was a Russian politician who served as mayor of Moscow from 1992 to 2010 ...

, for which he has won acclaim for the "most sane piece of city planning in years." As mayor, Sobyanin created Moscow Media, a holding company for a number of TV channels, radio stations, and newspapers, owned and controlled by the Moscow government. And he has also won praise for his efforts in combatting corruption. At the same time, Sobyanin was criticized for the banning of pride parades in the city, for which he was strongly condemned by

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...

groups.

Early life and career

Sergey Sobyanin was born in an ethnic

Mansi Mansi may refer to: People * Mansi people, an indigenous people living in Tyumen Oblast, Russia ** Mansi language * Giovanni Domenico Mansi Gian (Giovanni) Domenico Mansi (16 February 1692 – 27 September 1769) was an Italian prelate, theolog ...

village of Nyaksimvol in the

Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug–Yugra ( Russian and Mansi: Ханты-Мансийский автономный округ — Югра, ''Khanty-Mansiysky avtonomny okrug — Yugra;'' Khanty: Хӑнты-Мансийской Aвтономно� ...

(then in the

Russian SFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

). After finishing a local school in Beryozovsky District in 1975, Sobyanin matriculated to the Kostroma Technology Institute in

Kostroma Kostroma ( rus, Кострома́, p=kəstrɐˈma) is a historic types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Kostroma Oblast, Russia. A part of the Golden Ring of Russia, Golden Ring of Russian cities, it is lo ...

. On graduation he received an assignment to the large tube-rolling factory in

Chelyabinsk Chelyabinsk ( rus, Челя́бинск, p=tɕɪˈlʲæbʲɪnsk, a=Ru-Chelyabinsk.ogg; ba, Силәбе, ''Siläbe'') is the administrative center and largest city of Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia. It is the seventh-largest city in Russia, with a ...

. He started working as a machinist there. From 1982 to 1984 he worked with

Komsomol The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League (russian: link=no, Всесоюзный ленинский коммунистический союз молодёжи (ВЛКСМ), ), usually known as Komsomol (; russian: Комсомол, links=n ...

in Chelyabinsk. In 1984, he returned to Kogalym. There, he worked as a vice-chairman of the Kogalym selsovet (lowest level of administrative subdivision in rural areas), in a municipal economy department and local tax administration. In 1989, he got a second degree in jurisprudence ( All-Union Correspondence Institute of Law). His PhD thesis was titled "Legal position of the autonomous okrugs as

federal subjects of Russia The federal subjects of Russia, also referred to as the subjects of the Russian Federation (russian: субъекты Российской Федерации, subyekty Rossiyskoy Federatsii) or simply as the subjects of the federation (russian ...

". On 23 May 2007, at the Institute of Legislation and Comparative Jurisprudence at

Government of Russia The Government of Russia exercises executive power in the Russian Federation. The members of the government are the prime minister, the deputy prime ministers, and the federal ministers. It has its legal basis in the Constitution of the Russ ...

, defence of Sobyanin's higher doctoral thesis "RF subject in economical and social development of the state" were to take place on the basis of his monograph published shortly before the event. But the defence was cancelled due to an unknown reason. Examination of

Dissernet Dissernet (russian: Диссернет) is a volunteer community network working to clean Russian science of plagiarism. The core activity of the community is conducting examinations of doctoral and habilitation (higher doctorate) theses defended ...

of Sobyanin's doctoral thesis and the monograph of 2007 exposed high level of plagiarism.

Political career

In 1991, he was elected mayor of Kogalym. Since 1993, he has been the First Deputy of the Head of the Administration of the Khanty–Mansi Autonomous Okrug. In 1994, he was elected chairman of the Khanty–Mansi

Duma A duma (russian: дума) is a Russian assembly with advisory or legislative functions. The term ''boyar duma'' is used to refer to advisory councils in Russia from the 10th to 17th centuries. Starting in the 18th century, city dumas were f ...

. In January 1996, he became a member of the

Federation Council of Russia The Federation Council (russian: Сове́т Федера́ции – ''Soviet Federatsii'', common abbreviation: Совфед – ''Sovfed''), or Senate (officially, starting from July 1, 2020) ( ru , Сенат , translit = Senat), is th ...

. Since July 1998, he has been chairman of the Constitutional Law, Judicial, and Legal Problems Committee. On 27 October 1996, he was re-elected as a delegate and a chairman of the Khanty–Mansi Duma. On 12 July 2000 he was appointed the First Deputy of Plenipotentiary of President of Russia in the

Urals Federal District Ural Federal District (russian: Ура́льский федера́льный о́круг, ''Uralsky federalny okrug'') is one of the eight federal districts of Russia. Its population was 12,080,523 (79.9% urban) according to the 2010 Censu ...

. On 14 January 2001 he was elected governor of

. During the campaign, oil tycoon Vladimir Bogdanov was its confidant. He has been a member of the Supreme Council of the

political party since 2004. In 2005, Sergey Sobyanin sent a request to the

President of Russia The president of the Russian Federation ( rus, Президент Российской Федерации, Prezident Rossiyskoy Federatsii) is the head of state of the Russian Federation. The president leads the executive branch of the federa ...

about a vote of confidence. That was done in case of the change of the governor assignment procedure.

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

nominated him for election by the Duma of the Tyumen Oblast and he was finally reelected on 17 February 2005. In November 2005, he was appointed a head of the Administration of the President of Russia. Since 21 October 2010, he has been the

. Awarded a Medal of Honour, church IInd stage order of St. Kniaz Danil Moscowskiy, Medal of Honour in Education, French Republic Medal of Honour in Agriculture. Laureate of the "2003 Russia's Man of the Year: Politician" prize.

Mayor of Moscow

City planning

The preservation organization Archnadzor criticized Sobyanin for his razing of historical landmarks to make way for contemporary buildings. In March 2012, Sobyanin garnered controversy for doing little to clean up the city side walks.

Moscow housing relocation programme

Moscow housing relocation programme involves the demolition of dilapidated five-storey blocks of flats and the relocation of their residents to modern housing. The project's aim is to prevent five-storey blocks of flats from turning into hazardous housing unfit for living. The programme stipulates providing the residents of buildings put on the demolition list with equivalent living space with amenities in new buildings in their district. The list of buildings in the programme includes more than 5000 blocks of flats with a total area of about 16,000,000 square metres and about one million residents.

Criticism

Sobyanin has in recent years become a major target of controversy in the press. According to an independent poll, most Muscovites believe that since coming to power, Sobyanin's leadership has not differed from that of

Moscow gay parades

In February 2011, Sobyanin drew the ire of LGBT groups when he deemed Gay Parades to be "illegal" in Moscow. In response to this act, several gays organised a parade without approval in May 2011, during which 30 gay supporters were arrested, including several foreigners. Acclaimed British actor Sir

Ian McKellen Sir Ian Murray McKellen (born 25 May 1939) is an English actor. His career spans seven decades, having performed in genres ranging from Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction. Regarded as a British cultural i ...

heavily criticised Sobyanin for the ban on parades, even going as far as using the word "coward" to describe Sobyanin.

U.S. sanctions target

In response to the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. A ...

, on 6 April 2022 the

Office of Foreign Assets Control The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is a financial intelligence and enforcement agency of the U.S. Treasury Department. It administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions in support of U.S. national security and foreign policy o ...

of the

United States Department of the Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and ...

added Sobyanin to its list of persons sanctioned pursuant to .

Personal life

Sergey Sobyanin was married to Irina Sobyanina, a cousin of the Minister for Energy in Mikhail Kasyanov's Cabinet, . They divorced on 21 February 2014. The couple have two daughters: Anna (b. 1986) and Olga (b. 1997). He is of Russian and

ancestry.Keith McCloskey (2013).
Mountain of the Dead: The Dyatlov Pass Incident
. The History Press. p.46.

Notes

External links

Official biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sobyanin, Sergey 1958 births Living people 1st class Active State Councillors of the Russian Federation People from Beryozovsky District, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug United Russia politicians Russian nationalists Anti-Ukrainian sentiment in Russia 21st-century Russian politicians Kremlin Chiefs of Staff Mayors of Moscow Governors of Tyumen Oblast Russian engineers Soviet politicians Komsomol Mansi people Kutafin Moscow State Law University alumni Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List Russian individuals subject to the U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctions