Accessibility links

Breaking News

Sobyanin Takes Oath Of Office As Moscow Mayor


Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin at his official inauguration ceremony at the Museum of the Great Patriotic War on Poklonnaya Hill in Moscow on September 12.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin at his official inauguration ceremony at the Museum of the Great Patriotic War on Poklonnaya Hill in Moscow on September 12.
Sergei Sobyanin has been inaugurated as mayor of Moscow at a ceremony in the Hall of Fame at the city's World War II (Great Patriotic War) museum.

Sobyanin spoke about the challenges of being mayor of Russia's capital in his September 12 speech, promising to pay extra attention to safety, transportation problems, and social services.

Incumbent Sobyanin was declared the winner of the September 8 election, defeating opposition figure and anticorruption blogger Aleksei Navalny, who still managed to garner some 27 percent of the vote.

GENERATION N: How Navalny Shook Up Politics With His Army Of Volunteers

Navalny contested the results of the election.

He and his campaign team say irregularities and violations in voting gave Sobyanin just enough ballots to clear the 50-percent threshold needed to avoid a second round.

A Moscow court rejected Navalny's claim before Sobyanin's inauguration ceremony started.

Based on reporting by Rossiya 24 and Interfax

RFE/RL has been declared an "undesirable organization" by the Russian government.

If you are in Russia or the Russia-controlled parts of Ukraine and hold a Russian passport or are a stateless person residing permanently in Russia or the Russia-controlled parts of Ukraine, please note that you could face fines or imprisonment for sharing, liking, commenting on, or saving our content, or for contacting us.

To find out more, click here.

XS
SM
MD
LG