Maxim Kruglov’s blog post, 18.02.2021

Photo: Maxim Kruglov, leader of the Yabloko faction in the Moscow City Duma

Today, the Moscow authorities have finally revealed their strategy for the coming years. Instead of building modern, flexible, horizontal management structures, the Mayor’s Office and [the government’s] United Russia [party], on the contrary, concentrate all powers in their hands. At a meeting of the Moscow City Duma, they pushed through two laws that are important in this sense.

First, the parliament is deprived of the right to approve programmes for the city’s socio-economic development. Although this is probably the main thing why citizens elect their representatives – creating comfortable conditions for work and business, raising living standards, and controlling corruption.

Second, a number of large municipal councils, such as Zamoskvorechye, Presnya and Strogino, are deprived of the proxies (and hence funding) in organisation of leisure and sports for residents of these areas, as well as protection of the rights of minors. They say that the municipal deputies voted that way and did not intend to engage in this. The fact that it is the current composition of these municipal councils that thinks so, and the next (elections in a year) may want to work, that local deputies can know the problem better than government officials – this does not bother the pro-government parties.

Obviously, the adoption of such laws in the city is a reaction to both the municipal elections that the United Russia [party] failed in 2017 and the 2019 [the Moscow City Duma election] campaign, when I, my colleagues from Yabloko and a number of other prominent politicians were elected to the Moscow City Duma. They say, choose whoever you want, anyway any decisions will be made in the Mayor’s Office.

For me, this looks more like a demonstration of weakness and mistrust of our own voters than a strong strategy. But even if we do not take into account the political component, this is simply an ineffective decision in terms of the convenience of living in one of the largest cities in the world. A single, even the most brilliant manager, or a single, even the most transparent and professional apparatus, are unable to manage such a huge economy efficiently. The modern world requires decentralisation, support for local self-government and the inclusion of residents in the direct management of the city.

To promote this idea in Moscow, we are creating our project Pravo na Gorod (“The Right to the City”).

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MAXIM KRUGLOV

is member of the Federal Bureau of the Yabloko Party, Deputy Chairman of the Moscow branch of Yabloko. Head of the Yabloko faction in the Moscow City Duma. Candidate of Political Sciences.