Moscow

Moscow (Russian Москва́ [mɐskˈva], Moskva) is the capital of the Russian Federation. With a population of around 12.7 million (as of 2020), it is the largest city, as well as the largest agglomeration in Europe, with a population of 15.1 million (2012).

Moscow is the political, economic, scientific and cultural centre of Russia, with universities and institutes as well as numerous churches, theatres, museums and galleries. The city area is home to some of Europe's tallest skyscrapers and the striking Seven Sisters, as well as the 540-metre Ostankino Tower, the tallest structure in Europe. Moscow is the seat of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Patriarch resides in the Danilov Monastery, and the largest Russian Orthodox church building is the Moscow Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. There are over 300 churches in the Moscow city area.

The Kremlin and Red Square in the centre of Moscow have been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1990. With eight long-distance railway stations, four international airports and three inland ports, the city is Russia's most important transport hub and largest industrial city.

Demographics

Ethnic groups

In total, members of more than 100 nationalities and ethnic groups live in Moscow today. 84.83% of the population were ethnic Russians in the 2002 census. The largest ethnic minorities were: Ukrainians (2.44%), Tatars (1.60%), Armenians (1.20%), Azerbaijanis (0.92%), Jews (0.76%, categorized in Moscow statistics as both an ethnic and religious group), Belarusians (0.57%), Georgians (0.52%), Moldovans (0.35%), Tajiks (0,34%), Uzbeks (0.23%), Mordovians (0.22%), Chuvash (0.16%), Vietnamese (0.15%), Chechens (0.14%), Chinese (0.12%), Ossetians (0.10%), Koreans (Korjo-Saram) (0.08%), Kazakhs (0.08%), Pashtuns (0.06%), Bashkirs (0.06%), and Germans (0.05%). However, the influx of illegal immigrants from the territory of the former Soviet Union is not recorded. In addition, seasonal workers regularly stay in the city and usually leave Moscow after a few months.

Xenophobia exists to a limited extent against "blacks", according to Russian usage people with dark hair, under which above all immigrants from the Caucasus as well as from the former Soviet republics of Central Asia are subsumed. The terror of individual Chechens in Moscow is considered to be the cause of increased hostility towards immigrants.

Religions

Christianity is the dominant religion in Moscow, with the majority of Christians belonging to the Russian Orthodox Church. Other religions prevalent in Moscow are Islam, Buddhism and Judaism.

Around the year 2008, 410,000 Muslims lived in Moscow. The oldest mosque is the Moscow Historical Mosque. It was built in 1823 in the Tatar suburb in gratitude for the heroism shown by the Tatar and Bashkir regiments during the Patriotic War of 1812, and reopened in 1993. Moscow's second mosque was the Djuma Mosque or Friday Mosque, built in 1904 with the funds of wealthy Tatar merchant Salih Ersin. In 2011 it was destroyed and replaced by a new building, which opened on September 23, 2015. Another important mosque is the Memorial Mosque, built between 1995 and 1997 in the Western Administrative District. All three mosques belong to the jurisdiction of the "Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the European Part of Russia" (Duchovnoje uprawlenije Musulman ewropejskoj tschasti Rossii; DUMER), headed by Mufti Rawil Ismagilovich Gainutdin. He is also the chairman of the Russian Mufti Council, which is based in Moscow.

Politics

City government

As Moscow is the seat of the president and his presidential administration, the federal government, and numerous ministries and agencies, the politics of Moscow's city government are naturally characterized by coexistence, but also conflict, with the Kremlin and the government. This has long been a constant of politics in Russia's capital.

The latent conflict is intensified when the head of the city announces ambitions to lead the state - or is said to have them. The main actors in this conflict are, on the one hand, the president and the prime minister of Russia with the many officials and state employees and, on the other hand, the mayor of Moscow and the numerous employees of the city administration.

The city administration exercises executive power (executive authority) in Moscow, consisting of the city government and the Lord Mayor. The latter, together with the Deputy Mayor, is elected by the City Parliament on the proposal of the President of the Republic. The legislature (legislative power) is provided by the Moscow City Duma. This consists of a total of 45 deputies and supervises the mayor in its function.

Voters in Moscow, who make up about ten percent of Russia's total electorate, have generally voted more strongly for liberal or social-liberal opposition parties than the rest of the country in elections since the early 1990s. An exception to this trend was the overwhelming election results for Yuri Luzhkov, the mayor in office until September 2010, of over 70 percent. Yet Luzhkov was not considered liberal despite his pragmatic economic and investment policies toward Western Europe. In the elections to the city parliament at the end of 2005, the "Party of Power", United Russia, won an absolute majority. In September 2010, the Russian president signed a decree dismissing Mayor Luzhkov. His successor, Sergei Sobyanin, was elected by the Chamber of Deputies on October 21, 2010, and confirmed by the people in the 2013 mayoral election. In September 2017, local elections in Moscow were "forgotten", residents were not informed. A high voter turnout was not in the government's interest; it ended up being less than 15 percent. The opposition even won a majority in some city districts. Despite the very limited importance of the deputies, they are guarantors that one of the registration hurdles for a mayoral election in 2018 is for an oppositionist to overcome, namely that 110 signatures of deputies are needed for a candidacy.

Twin Cities

Moscow maintains partnerships with the following cities:

• since November 1990: Berlin, Germany
• since July 1991: Seoul, South Korea
• since July 1991: Vienna, Austria (loose partnership already since 1956)
• since July 1991: Tokyo Prefecture, Japan
• since January 1992: Paris, France
• since June 1992: Düsseldorf, Germany
• since December 1992: Beijing, PR China
• since June 1993: Cusco, Peru Peru
• since 1994: Almaty, Kazakhstan Kazakhstan
• since 1995: Yerevan, Armenia
• since April 1997: Chicago, United States United States
• since May 1993: Warsaw, Poland
• since June 1997: Madrid, Spain
• since 2000: Tel Aviv, Israel
• Athens, Greece
• Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan Kazakhstan

Redeemer Tower of the Moscow Kremlin


Ivan the Great Bell Tower in the Moscow Kremlin