Gavriil Kharitonovich Popov

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Gavriil Popov (left) speaking at a demonstration in Moscow, March 1991

Gawriil Charitonovič Popov ( Russian Гавриил Харитонович Попов , scientific transliteration Gavriil Charitonovič Popov ; born  October 31, 1936 in Moscow ) is a Russian economic expert who was Mayor of Moscow from 1991 to 1992 .

biography

Popov grew up in Moscow and studied economics from 1954 to 1959 at Lomonosov University . He then worked there as a scientific employee, later as a lecturer and from 1978 to 1988 as dean of the business faculty. A focus of Popow's research was the economy of the former Soviet Union and approaches for economic reforms towards a free market economy.

His political career began in 1989 when he was elected to the Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR. As a parliamentarian, Popov belonged to a liberal-oriented group of parliamentarians. In March 1990 Popov was elected to the Moscow City Council ( Mossovjet ) and one month later became its chairman and thus head of the city. After the reform of the Moscow administrative system in 1991, the office of Lord Mayor (Russian мэр  /  mer , cf. Maire ) was created and an election for this office was held for the first time in June of the same year. Popov defeated his predecessor in the office of Mossovet chairman, Valeri Saikin, and became the first Moscow mayor after the collapse of the Soviet Union .

As Lord Mayor, Popov was given a number of special powers by decree of the then Russian President Boris Yeltsin , which, among other things, allowed him to initiate a mass privatization of city property. In addition, Popov initiated in this office a large-scale administrative reform within the city executive as well as a regional reform, after which the previous 33 city rajons of Moscow were replaced by ten administrative districts with over 120 subordinate districts. A large number of streets and squares renamed during the Soviet era were given their historic names back during Popov's tenure. At the same time, the wave of privatization and the increased settlement of private companies in the city initially led to massive economic problems, mass poverty, chaos and rampant crime. This forced Popov to resign in June 1992. His successor was the previous Vice Mayor, Yuri Luzhkov .

After his resignation, Popov became rector (later: president) of the Moscow International University, founded a year earlier in mid-1992 . Since 2001 he has also been a board member of the Russian Social Democratic Party , which was founded in the same year, but which is politically insignificant.

Popow is married and has two sons.

Publications

Popow is the author of over a hundred scientific publications, including on management theory and economic reforms of the late Soviet era. One of his students is the well-known liberal politician Yegor Gaidar , who was the Russian head of government in the early 1990s and became known for radical economic reforms during this period.

See also

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Popov, Gavriil Kharitonovich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Попов, Гавриил Харитонович (Russian)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Russian economic expert, mayor of Moscow (1991–1992)
DATE OF BIRTH October 31, 1936
PLACE OF BIRTH Moscow