Biography:

Sergey Sobyanin was born on June, 21, 1958 in the village of Nyaksimvol in Berezovsky district in Tyumen Region. In 1975 he moved to Chelyabinsk. He worked at the Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant and studied by correspondence. In 1980 he graduated from the Faculty of Mechanics at the Kostroma Technological Institute, became foreman to a group of turners and master of the shop.

In 1982 he began working at the Komsomol (All-Union Leninist Young Communist League) Leninsky district committee.

In 1984-1988 he headed the housing and public utilities of the Kogalym city in Khanty-Mansiysk district

In 1988-1990 he was deputy head of the organizational department of the Khanty-Mansiysk regional committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). In 1989 he graduated from the All-Union Correspondence Institute of Law (in 1993  it was renamed to Moscow State Law Academy, MSLA).

In 1990 he headed the tax office in Kogalym.

In 1991 he was appointed head of Kogalym administration by order of Alexander Filipenko, head of the region administration.

In 1993 Sobyanin became first deputy to Filipenko

In 1994 he became Speaker of the regional Duma.

In January 1996 he joined the upper house of Russian parliament, that is, the Council of Federation.

In October 1996 he was re-elected as Speaker of the Khanty-Mansiysk regional Duma.

In June 1998 he headed Council of Federation Committee on Constitutional Legislation and Legal Affairs.

In July 2000 he was appointed first deputy to Peter Latyshev, the plenipotentiary representative of the Russian President in the Ural Federal District.

On January, 14, 2001 he was elected governor of the Tyumen region, having received more than 52 percent of the vote.

In December 2001 he was elected member of the supreme council of the All-Russian party Unity and Fatherland (also known as United Russia).

In January 2005 after the Act on the abolition of gubernatorial elections came into force, Sobyanin prematurely raised the issue of confidence in him before the President. Putin supported his candidacy and presented it to the consideration of the Tyumen regional Duma. In February the regional Duma unanimously voted in favour of Sobyanin.

In October 2005 he became member of the Presidential Council for the Implementation of Priority National Projects.

On December, 14, 2005 Putin appointed Sobyanin head of the Presidential Administration.

In May 2008 he became acting head of the Presidential Administration. In the same month he was appointed deputy prime minister and head of government staff, headed by Putin.

Since February 2009 he has been chairman of the board of directors of the Russian TV channel Channel One.

At the suggestion of the Medvedev, in October 2010 Moscow City Duma deputies approved Sobyanin as the new Mayor of Moscow to replace Yuri Luzhkov who had been dismissed in September due to loss of confidence.

 

Awards:

Medal of Honour

Medal of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, II degree

Medal of Honour of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation

Medal of Stolypin, I degree

Order of St. Daniel of Moscow, II degree

Order of Merit in Agriculture (France)

Medal of Honour of the Ministry of Education of Russia

Laureate of Man of the Year of Russia-2003 in the category Politician of the Year

The best manager of the year according to the Association of Russian Managers

 

According to the tax return, in 2010 Sergey Sobyanin’s annual income was 4.8 million rubles. He and his wife, who earned only 19.300 rubles, own an apartment of ​​118 square metres, a 26.8 square metres garage, and a Jeep Cherokee.

Sobyanin has a degree of a candidate in Legal Sciences. He is author of over forty publications. As of 2010 he was chairman of the editorial board of Jurnal Rossiyskogo Prava (Journal of Russian Law).

The press mentioned first of all such hobby of Sobyanin as hunting and fishing. He also enjoys literature and classical music.

He is married to Irina Iosifovna, whose maiden name was Rubinchik. She is a relative of Alexander Gavrin, who was the successor of Sobyanin as head of administration in Kogalym (1993), the Russian energy minister in 2000-2001 and in 2001 became the representative of the Tyumen governor in the Council of Federation.

Sobyanin has two daughters, Anna and Olga.

Source: Wikipedia

 

 

Dossier:   

In 1991 Sergey Sobyanin was appointed head of Kogalym administration by order of Alexander Filipenko, head of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug administration. As the city mayor Sobyanin aimed most of his activities at building relationship in this one-company town with the only enterprise there, Kogalymneftegaz (LUKOIL-Western Siberia JSC since 1994). At that time Kogalymneftegaz employed Vagit Alekperov, future president of Lukoil, and Semyon Weinstock, future head of the Transneft.

Sobyanin did not defend city interests before LUKOIL in the full, agreeing with the tax rate the company was willing to pay.

Source: Expert Ural, 21 November 2005

 

In 1993 the head of administration of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous District, Alexander Filipenko, appointed Sobyanin his first deputy. On March, 6, 1994 Sobyanin was elected to the regional Duma and Filipenko, head of the Khanty- Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug secured his election as Chairman of the Duma. Roman Abramovich supported the candidacy of Sobyanin.

Source: Moskovsky Komsomolets, 16 November 2005   

 

In terms of region’s relationship with the major oil companies, Sobyanin initially was considered to be "a man of Alekperov." Nevertheless, he conducted a policy of balance between the different companies. It was at that time when Sobyanin met Putin, the future president of Russia. Associated with Surgutneftegaz, Sobyanin was related to the company’s oil refinery in Kirishi in the Leningrad region, which allegedly was controlled by Vladimir Putin and Gennady Timchenko.

Source: Russian Newsweek, 18 October 2010

 

In 1999-2000 Sobyanin was involved in the scandal surrounding Yuri Skuratov, the Attorney General of the Russian Federation. President Boris Yeltsin's confidants demanded Skuratov’s resignation.  Sobyanin was the head of the Council of Federation committee that prepared the legal grounds for the dismissal. At first Sobyanin justified both the point of view of Council members who opposed the dismissal of Skuratov, and the behavior of the Attorney General who refused to leave his post. Nevertheless, later (after Putin supported the resignation of Skuratov) Sobyanin actually insisted that the Council of Federation vote for the resignation of the Attorney General.

Source: Sobesednik  № 93, 29 November 2005

 

In January 2000 Sobyanin joined the initiative group to nominate Putin as candidate for presidency. In summer 2000 Sobyanin, who had previously opposed Putin's administrative reform initiative that involved, inter alia, the withdrawal of governors of the Council of Federation, unexpectedly endorsed the relevant laws. All this, as well as participation of the Khanty-Mansiysk speaker in the dismissal of Skuratov contributed to the fact that Putin took notice of Sobyanin, which, according to experts, affected Sobyanin’s promotion.

Source: Ogoniok № 41, 18 October 2010

 

On July 12, 2000 Sobyanin became the first deputy to Peter Latyshev, the plenipotentiary representative of the Russian President in the Ural Federal District, and the press highlighted that it was the president who appointed him to the post.  

Source: Vedomosti, 18 October 2010 

 

In November 2000, Latyshev included Sobyanin in the list of possible candidates for the post of Tyumen region governor. The candidacy of deputy envoy was supported by Vladislav Surkov, the deputy head of presidential administration. In addition, according to the media, he was supported by energy companies Surgutneftegaz and Surgutgazprom. On January, 14, 2001 having received over52 percent of the vote, Sobyanin was elected governor in the first round of voting.  

Source: Polit.Ru, 15 November 2005

 

In June 2001 Sobyanin joined the board of directors of one of the largest oil companies TNK (Tyumen Oil Company) and became its chairman. Sobyanin remained chairman until June 2003 when all region heads were withdrawn from the TNK board of directors. At the same time Sobyanin remained close ties with TNK managers and those of the later established holding TNK-BP (according to some sources, after 2005 Sobyanin was involved in a conflict between the Russian shareholders of the holding and its foreign co-owner, BP)

Source: Kommersant № 102 (2705), 17 June 2003

 

After the gubernatorial election of 2001 Sobyanin thoroughly removed all those who helped him win from the regional politics. He was especially careful to rid of defectors from the team of the former region head, Leonid Roketskiy. Head of the regional FSB and the Interior Ministry, the head of the regional medical service, dozens of officials and editors of media outlets were dismissed from office.  

Source: New Times, 26 March 2007

 

Sobyanin was known to dislike opposition media when he was governor of the Tyumen region. In particular, his remark "I do not believe that a journalist could be free by definition, and the press in our country can not be free" was often quoted.

Source: UralPolit.Ru, 06 December 2004

 

On June, 1, 2006 the head of LUKOIL Vagit Alekperov reportedly phoned Sobyanin and said that Attorney General’s Office scheduled seizure of documents at his company on the following day. Sobyanin knew that Putin did not approve of or plan anything of the kind. He immediately telephoned Putin. Putin told him to come to his residence in Novo-Ogaryovo and to bring Larissa Brycheva, head of legal department of the Kremlin.

Later in the evening Senate Speaker Sergey Mironov was summoned to Novo-Ogaryovo. He and Sobyanin spent the night there, just in case, and in the morning on June 2 went to the Council of Federation to present the decree on the dismissal of Attorney General Vladimir Ustinov.

Source: Newsweek, 18 October 2010

 

According to another version, Sobyanin initiated the resignation of Attorney General Ustinov in connection with the fact that in the summer of 2006, the Attorney General's Office conducted an investigation of financial abuse in the Tyumen region. According to other sources, Sobyanin sought to reduce the influence of his deputy Igor Sechin and Ustinov was member of Sechin’s group. It was suggested that Yuri Chaika who filled the position of Attorney General after Ustinov’s dismissal was a confidant of Sobyanin.

Source: Novaya Gazeta, 22 June 2006

 

In November 2006 Sobyanin as a member of the Supreme Council of United Russia took part in the VII Party Congress. Media reported that participation of the head of administration in party activities was caused by a struggle for control of the United Russia between Sobyanin and his deputy Surkov. Thus, according to the media, the direct participation of the head of presidential administration of Russia in the Congress was to strengthen his influence on the party.

Source: Vedomosti, 01 December  2006. - № 227 (1754)

 

On October, 9, 2010 Sobyanin was one of four candidates to become mayor of Moscow who were presented to the president by United Russia. On October, 15, 2010, Medvedev said that he had decided to propose Moscow City Council to approve Sobyanin new mayor of Moscow.

Source: Interfax, 15 October  2010

 

According to media reports, in Tyumen, where Sobyanin worked previously, his wife was called Ira Curbs because she allegedly owned Aerodromdorstroy company that paved Tyumen squares with ​​tiles and framed roads with granite curbs. Muscovites were seriously worried that the new mayor will have a new Baturina by his side.

According to the Tyumen media in 2007 Aerodromdorstroy, which for the first time was on the list of largest private companies by Forbes, received 22 orders worth more than 232 million rubles from government transport agency Roads of the Tyumen region. In 2008 the company got 14 orders worth 7.735 billion rubles. In 2010 the company was accused in significant cost overruns in the construction of the first Tyumen underpass.

In addition to the main managing company the group legally registered Aerodromdorstroy-A closed JSC in Moscow.

Sobyanin planned to replace Moscow’s paved sidewalks with tiled ones during the summer of 2011. It is not known which companies would be conducting the work, but the mayor said they are ready to pave 4 million square metres of the capital's sidewalks. The cost of tiles only would run up to not less than 1.2 billion rubles.

Source: NEWSru, 05 April 2011

 

  Shortly after taking office Sobyanin agreed with the VTB management to sell city-owned shares of the Bank of Moscow. The city owned 46.48% stake in the Bank of Moscow, as well as a quarter of the Capital Insurance Group, which owns 17.3% stake in the bank. But VTB management wanted to acquire 100% stake in the Bank of Moscow.

However, Andrey Borodin who headed of the Bank of Moscow and a board member Leo Alaluev refused to sell their 20% stake in the bank.

In response, Sobyanin took measures to harass the Bank of Moscow leadership, which resulted in a request to City Hall to conduct a Chamber of Accounts audit of the Bank of Moscow. Sergey Stepashin promptly responded to the request from the mayor of the capital and on December, 13, 2010, the check began.

As a result, Borodin was removed from office, arrested in absentia, and put on international wanted list.

Source: NEWSru.com, 03 May  201 1

 

Then after the bankers Sobyanin began to harass capitol officials and businessmen, giving preference to St. Petersburg and Tyumen ones (who in large numbers began to move to Moscow). On February, 7, 2011 head of the Moscow underground known as metro, Dmitry Gayev, was dismissed. And in March 2011 a criminal case was initiated against him.

Prosecution inspection showed violations that indicated, according to the inspectors, to "Gaev and other managers of Moscow metro having of vested interests." Prosecution also suspected managers of the metro in unjustified compensation of passenger transportation costs by increasing the fare.

Source: Rossiyskaya Gazeta, 24 March 2011

 

In early April 2011 Sobyanin accused top management of the largest enterprises of the capital, ZIL and Tushino engineering plant, in money laundering and embezzlement. The two plants, he said, were on the verge of bankruptcy and in arrears to pay wages to the workers.

The police and the Investigating Committee refused to comment on Sobyanin’s accusations against the senior managers of ZIL and Tushino plant.

Source: Gazeta.ru, 06 April 2011