In Moscow, a monument to Yuri Luzhkov was unveiled

The monument at this site was created by sculptor Salavat Shcherbakov. Luzhkov’s widow, Elena Baturina, attended the ceremony.

Yuri Luzhkov led Moscow for 18 years — from 1992 to 2010. President Dmitry Medvedev dismissed him, explaining the decision by a loss of trust.

In 2019, Luzhkov died in a Munich clinic after cardiac surgery.

His work as mayor was often criticized, including for the large-scale destruction of historic buildings: by various estimates, during those years about 700 historic buildings in Moscow were demolished or brought to a dilapidated state. The so-called “Luzhkov style” became a symbol of that era — among the examples cited were the Nautilus shopping center near Lubyanka Square and the “Egg House” on Mashkov Street.

Large contracts awarded by the mayor’s office to Elena Baturina’s company Inteko also came under criticism. After Luzhkov’s dismissal, the then head of the Kremlin administration, Sergei Naryshkin, named the “extremely high level of corruption” in his circle as one of the reasons for the firing.

Sources

• Novaya Gazeta Europe