Moscow (AsiaNews) - President Dmitry Medvedev has signed a decree forcing the resignation of Moscow's powerful mayor, Yuri Luzhkov (see photo). The decree, published while Medvedev is abroad in China, states that Luzhkov, 74, has lost "the confidence of the President of the Russian Federation." Luzhkov’s deputy, Vladimir Resin has been appointed in his place.
For weeks Luzhkov has been the subject of a press and TV campaign in which he is accused of controlling the city and having built along with his wife Yelena Baturina a construction empire through corruption (see 21/09/2010, The Kremlin declares war on the last tsar of Moscow).
Luzhkov, from the same party of Vladimir Putin, has often been seen as a possible president of the Russian Federation. In his resignation, other observers see a new chapter in the struggle between Putin and Medvedev ahead of the presidential elections of 2012.
If Putin fails to step in to save him, the fate of Luzhkov and his wife might be a golden exile in Great Britain in London or in Austria. In both places Yelena owns prestigious buildings.