Gavriil Popov (politician)

Gavriil Kharitonovich Popov (Russian: Гавриил Харитонович Попов, IPA: [ɡəvrʲɪˈiɫ xərʲɪˈtonəvʲɪtɕ pɐˈpof]; born 31 October 1936), anglicised as Gabriel Popov, is a Russian politician and economist. He served as the mayor of Moscow from 1991 until he resigned in 1992.

Gavriil Popov
Гавриил Попов
Popov in 1991
1st Mayor of Moscow
In office 12 June 1991 – 6 June 1992
Deputy	Yury Luzhkov
Preceded by	Yury Luzhkov as chairman of the executive committee of the Moscow City Council
Succeeded by	Yury Luzhkov
Personal details
Born	(1936-10-31) 31 October 1936 (age 88) Moscow, Soviet Union
Political party	Just Russia (2007–present)
Other political affiliations	Communist Party (1959–1990) Democratic Russia (1990–1994) Independent (1994–2001) Social Democratic Party (2001–2007)
Spouse	Irina
Children	Chariton Basil
Alma mater	Moscow State University (1959)

Biography

Born to a Greek family in Moscow, Popov graduated Moscow Lomonosov University in political economy. He joined the Soviet Communist Party in 1959 and served as a secretary of the Komsomol committee of his university. Popov remained at the faculty of economics as a graduate student, then docent, and in 1978 became dean of the faculty. Yegor Gaidar, who would become Prime Minister of Russia, was one of his students.

During Perestroika Popov became heavily involved in politics. On June 12, 1991, he became the first democratically elected mayor of Moscow. In 1990, he left the CPSU, following Boris Yeltsin's lead at the 28th Congress.^[1] He resigned in 1992 and was replaced by the vice-mayor, Yury Luzhkov. In January 2010, he and Luzhkov published an article highly critical of Yegor Gaidar.

After 1992, Popov returned to academia. He is now president of the International University in Moscow.