Sergey Sobyanin

Sergey Semyonovich Sobyanin (; born 21 June 1958) is a Russian politician, serving as the 3rd mayor of Moscow since 21 October 2010. Sobyanin previously served as the Governor of Tyumen Oblast (2001–2005), Head of the presidential administration (2005–2008) and Deputy Prime Minister of Russia (2008–2010 in Vladimir Putin's Second Cabinet). He has the federal state civilian service rank of 1st class Active State Councillor of the Russian Federation. Sobyanin is a member of the ruling United Russia political party, and is elected to its higher governing bodies, current member of presidium of Regional Council of the United Russia in Moscow and the head (political council secretary) of the party's Moscow branch from March 2011 to December 2012. He is considered to be a close ally to Russian billionaire businessman Vladimir Bogdanov, Director General of Surgutneftegas. As the Mayor of Moscow, Sobyanin has gradually relaxed the massive construction projects of his predecessor Yury Luzhkov, for which he has won acclaim for the "most sane piece of city planning in years." As mayor, Sobyanin created Moscow Media, a holding company for a number of TV channels, radio stations, and newspapers, owned and controlled by the Moscow government. At the same time, Sobyanin was criticized for the banning of pride parades in the city, for which he was strongly condemned by LGBT groups.