After being ousted from his near 20 year post as the Mayor of Moscow last week, powerful Russian figure Yuri Luzhkov says he will form a political movement, which aimed to support democracy in the country and challenge the authoritarianism of the present regime.
Luzhkov made his first public comments since Russian President Dmitri Medvedev sacked him after an increasingly bitter struggle between the two. Luzhkov spoke to the magazine The New Times and said he would fight any charges laid against him, and defend his record as Moscow Mayor.
“I will fight for my honour, because I still have it,” Luzhkov told the Russian opposition magazine. “I honestly served Muscovites and no one can claim I did anything in a criminal way.”
While mayor, Luzhkov’s wife became one of the richest women in the world and there are numerous charges of corruption expected to be filed against the former mayor.
Luzhkov was hazy about his plans for a political movement. He said he will not run for president, nor would he compete in elections. “Going into politics means working on the establishment of the laws of a democratic society. Today our society has laws that are not democratic.” He also said he will not contend his sacking at the Russian supreme court, which he thinks will not hand down a verdict in contradiction to the President.
With so few details forthcoming about what his political movement will look like, some are speculating whether this is not simple a last-ditch effort to go out with his head high.
