Official website of the President of Russia

Transcripts   /

President Vladimir Putin:

Dear colleagues, dear Yury Mikhailovich [Luzhkov],

First of all, I would like to congratulate you sincerely with the election results and with your convincing victory in these elections.

The people of Moscow have once again chosen their mayor, and they have made their choice not only based on his authority in the city, in the country and in the world (Yury Mikhailovich is well known in Europe and the rest of the world). They have made their choice based on the results achieved by the Mayor of Moscow and his team, and this is the most important thing.

A great deal really has been achieved over these years. Moscow is more than just a city. We all know this. Moscow is a complex territorial and state formation. The trendy name for it these days would be a megapolis. It has a highly complex infrastructure, a huge population of many millions and all the problems that cities of this size face, including migration flows, low income groups and housing sector problems. In Moscow you can find everything, and every kind of problem, the same as in other places. But here you will also find something that is not always found in other places, and that is effective development and impressive solutions to these problems.

Few cities in the world can boast the kind of development that Moscow has undergone over the last decade.

Moscow is developing energetically. This can be seen in machine–building, in the electricity sector, the foodstuffs industry and the construction sector. This can also be seen in how the city’s infrastructure is developing.

Moscow is not just a large and great city – it is the capital of Russia, and this is why looking after it is not just the concern of the city authorities or the millions of Muscovites. It is, of course, the concern of the whole country, of the federal centre and the federal authorities.

So far, we have always worked effectively with the Moscow team and with its mayor. I am sure that this will also be the case in the future.

A certain style has developed in Moscow, and this is not just to do with the mayor’s distinctive image. I see that you’ve all started smiling here and that your thoughts have immediately turned to the famous mayoral cap. That’s right. The Moscow authorities and the mayor of Moscow have a distinctive leadership style that has brought success. This is a fact and I want to congratulate you on it. I also express my hope that Yury Mikhailovich Luzhkov and all who have been working with him for many years now will put all their efforts to the cause of serving the people of Moscow, and in so doing, will make a significant contribution to the development of all of Russia.