The Moscow City Duma on Wednesday tentatively approved two bills put forward by United Russia that would return direct mayoral elections but with restrictions that make it difficult for an opposition candidate to register to run. The Moscow City Duma on Wednesday tentatively approved two bills put forward by United Russia that would return direct mayoral...

With emerald eyes and a colossal, caramel-colored Afro, Ilya Varlamov doesn't look like a typical Siberian mayor. Varlamov Exits Omsk Race With emerald eyes and a colossal, caramel-colored Afro, Ilya Varlamov doesn't look like a typical Siberian mayor. Nor does he have the resume. An architect by training, Varlamov runs iCube, a creative advertising and...

Popular photo blogger Ilya Varlamov has closed his unlikely campaign for the post of mayor of Omsk, saying he would not have time to collect the necessary 10,000 signatures to get on the ballot before the deadline, May 7. Popular photo blogger Ilya Varlamov has closed his unlikely campaign for the post of mayor of Omsk, saying he would...

... do not want him as president. Have leaders done anything in the past five months that could be interpreted as a concession toward angry Moscow residents — not empty promises, but concrete actions? Have they re-instituted the direct election of mayors or brought criminal charges against those who falsified the December State Duma election results? In reality, leaders have been moving in the opposite direction. The direct election of mayors has nearly disappeared. Central Elections Commission...

... document covers urban planning through 2025 but otherwise doesn't specify a date for privatization. Though it carries no legal weight, the proposal could garner support: It comes as the city is undertaking an ambitious expansion of the metro system, with Mayor Sergei Sobyanin's administration announcing last month that 150 kilometers of new track and 70 new stations will be built by the end of 2020. Marat Khusnullin, deputy mayor for urban planning policy and construction, formally presented the expansion...

... be built by the company belonging to President Vladimir Putin's close friend and judo partner. Medvedev signed a decree on the contracts on April 25, less than two weeks before he left office. The document was actually signed at the request of Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin because it will speed up construction of roads for the G8 summit in Skolkovo in 2014, Medvedev's spokeswoman Natalya Timakova said. A presidential order or decree is needed to avoid holding a tender. The mayor of Moscow cannot appoint...

... any interests that he can't lobby for himself." Golodets' experience in social issues includes 13 years as a researcher with the National Labor Research Institute and the National Academy of Sciences' Institute for Employment Studies. As deputy mayor beginning in December 2010, she oversaw education and health care in the city. "I don't see any problems with her appointment. She's very energetic, very smart, full of initiative," said a high-ranking official at a Moscow university,...

The Moscow Mayor's Office reached a settlement in a dispute over the Yevropeisky shopping center that will bring it 2.5 billion rubles ($80.2 million). The Moscow Mayor's Office reached a settlement in a dispute over the Yevropeisky shopping center...

... Dmitry Medvedev is considering the offer. Anisimov has already met with Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich, according to a government official, and he will discuss the question with First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov on Wednesday. The Moscow Mayor's Office has also been instructed to look into the possibility of placing federal agencies in Domodedovo. The Federation Council approved a change in the boundaries of Moscow and the Moscow region at the end of 2011, increasing the area of Moscow...

... to statements posted Saturday on the Kremlin website. Medvedev criticized Vakhrukov, who had served in his job since December 2007, on Friday at a meeting with members of ruling party United Russia for his choosing a candidate in the recent Yaroslavl mayoral election who ended up losing the vote to an opposition-backed candidate, RIA-Novosti reported. The president said Vakhrukov had chosen businessman Yakov Yakushev to run for United Russia instead of former Yaroslavl deputy mayor Sergei Yastrebov...

... Kuznetsov fled the country and remains at large. Analysts said that in order to win confidence, Shoigu must sack unpopular figures. Political expert Sergei Markov, who is vice president of the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, mentioned Khimki Mayor Vladimir Strelchenko, a protege of outgoing Governor Gromov, as an example. Strelchenko has been accused of corruption and repressing opponents of the construction of a Moscow-St. Petersburg highway that requires a sizable portion of Khimki forestland...

... posts voluntarily, according to statements posted Saturday on the Kremlin website. Medvedev had criticized Vakhrukov, appointed in December 2007, at a meeting Friday of the ruling United Russia party for his choice of a candidate in the recent Yaroslavl mayoral election who lost to an opposition-backed candidate. The president complained that Vakhrukov had chosen businessman Yakov Yakushev to run for United Russia instead of former Yaroslavl Deputy Mayor Sergei Yastrebov, who had won the party's primary...

... office 1997-1999: Department head, board head, deputy director for economics, Norilsk Nickel 1999-2000: Deputy director for economics and board head, deputy director for personnel and board head, Norilsk Nickel Transpolar Branch 2000-2002: Norilsk deputy mayor for economics and finance, Norilsk first deputy mayor 2002-2007: Deputy governor of the Krasnoyarsk region in charge of the region's central finance board July 2007-July 2008: First deputy governor of the Krasnoyarsk region July-September 2008:...

... PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY — At a corner of this huge country, at the very edge of the world, the Kamchatka Peninsula juts 1,500 kilometers into the Pacific. Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Population: 179,395 Main industries: Fishing, energy, mining, manufacturing Mayor: Vladimir Semchyov Founded in 1740 Interesting fact: Kamchatka’s eastern coast, where Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky is located, is one of the most seismically active spots in the world. During the last century, it has seen 13 earthquakes ranked...

... and the Moscow Ring Road meet should be open by the end of this year. The first part of a new intersection at the notorious bottleneck where Leningradskoye Shosse and the Moscow Ring Road meet should be open by the end of this year. Mayor Sergei Sobyanin ordered contractors to step up the pace of work “without compromising on quality” after a tour of the site Friday. Workers began building two new two-lane overpasses to replace the current cloverleaf junction in December...

... the founder of the pro-Kremlin Nashi youth group, casts a dark cloud over the Ridus news site, which Varlamov has touted as an independent news source of "civic journalism." Varlamov, who recently called off a shortlived bid to run for Omsk mayor, said he would leave Ridus if the claim proved true, according to a post on his Twitter account. Yakemenko announced his participation in Ridus — whose rented office in the Tupolev office plaza costs 6 million rubles ($200,000) per year, according...

... and fountains with dazzling night lighting. But none of them can compare to its main attraction — majestic Siberian nature. Krasnoyarsk Population: 990,600, according to the 2011 census. Its 1 millionth resident was born in early April. Acting mayor: Edkham Akbulatov Founded in 1628 as a military prison. Interesting fact: The major symbols of Krasnoyarsk — the Chapel of Paraskeva Pyatnitsa, the Kommunalny Bridge across the Yenisei River and the Krasnoyarskaya hydropower station —...

... Kommersant-FM reporter said on air, citing organizers. The march will conclude at Bolotnaya Ploshchad, where a rally will be held. Recent mainstay of opposition events Ksenia Sobchak, a popular television personality and the daughter of former St. Petersburg mayor and Vladimir Putin mentor Anatoly Sobchak, wrote on Twitter that she will not be attending today's event. It has not been announced who will speak at the rally. 3:08 p.m., Demonstrators Gather at Metal Detectors, Chant 'Putin Is a Thief': The Times...

... protest movement, the worse that movement will look in the eyes of Putin's core conservative supporters. But at the same time, we must remember that Sobchak is the daughter of Anatoly Sobchak, who Putin worked for in the early 1990s when Sobchak was the mayor of St. Petersburg. Sobchak was also co-author of the 1993 Constitution, part of the first wave of post-Soviet democrats and a close associate of then-President Boris Yeltsin. From his post in the St. Petersburg mayor's office, Putin was appointed...

... “activities had been mostly linked to public activities like festivals and others aimed at getting the attention of the federal authorities,” Titkov said. Mezentsev also failed to secure victories for United Russia in the last two years in mayoral elections in Irkutsk and Bratsk and the State Duma elections in December. Mezentsev himself was among the few governors who was not a member of United Russia. In the mayoral election, the pro-Kremlin party lost to the Communist Party, while in...