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Luzhkov's Man for Federation Council

Mayor Sergei Sobyanin has fired veteran city official Yury Roslyak but intends to soften his landing by appointing him as Moscow's representative to the Federation Council, news reports said Tuesday.

Roslyak, 56, formerly a deputy mayor in charge of economic issues, will have to be confirmed by the City Duma to become a senator, but City Hall expects the legislature to support his candidacy, the Moscow city government said on its web site Monday, citing Komsomolskaya Pravda.

Andrei Sharonov, managing director of Troika Dialog and a former deputy economic development and trade minister, may succeed Roslyak at his job, Vedomosti reported Tuesday, quoting a City Hall source.

Roslyak was a member of former Mayor Yury Luzhkov's team, working in City Hall since 1991 and eventually rising to the post of first deputy mayor in charge of the city's economy in 2003. After Luzhkov's dismissal in September, Sobyanin downgraded Roslyak to deputy mayor.

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