Mayors of Moscow always draw special attention to themselves. After all, the capital is a city with a certain status and characteristics. Naturally, many are interested in what was the personality of the first mayor of Moscow. Within one year, as a result of the elections held, Gavriil Popov became him.
The first mayor of Moscow, Gavriil Popov, is often called an ambiguous personality. Today, he continues to circulate in political circles, serving as an advisor and sharing his experience with his followers. Like any other mayor, Popov has his own followers, as well as his critics.
Childhood and adolescence politics
Biography of Gabriel Popov begins on October 31, 1936. He was born in Moscow, in a family of natives of the Azov region. The first mayor of Moscow is Greek by nationality. At the time of his birth, the boy's parents studied at the capital's universities.
The early childhood and school years of the future mayor did not differ in special creativity and it is impossible to call him famous already in his youth. But it is known that the boy studied well and even finished school with a gold medal.
Gavriil Kharitonovich himself noted that he could not decide on his future profession, and in fact his whole future life was predetermined by an ordinary case. At the time when he was deciding what career he would like to build in the future, Stalin's works were heatedly discussed in the country. And Popov was extremely interested in this work, as a result of which he decided to enter the economics department of one of the main Russian universities - Moscow State University.
Learning here was also easy enough for him. The young man was distinguished by a tenacious mind and good success, which is why he was awarded two scholarships at once. After completing standard training, he went on to graduate school. He also preferred movement along the Komsomol line, which later played a good role for him. Then Gabriel received his doctorate, becoming the youngest doctor of economic sciences in the Union.
Further in his biography was work at several departments of his native university. And in the 80s, he completely headed the Faculty of Economics.
Career turns
In 1988, creativity also appeared in Popov's life - he was elected editor-in-chief of the journal "Voprosy ekonomiki". Moreover, it was not a short-term novel - he headed the publication until 1992.
In 1989 he was also elected as the people's deputy of the USSR. At that time, he was listed as a representative of the Union of Scientific and Engineering Societies. In the same years, he was appointed co-chairman of the Interregional Deputy Group.
In 1990, the first step was taken towards obtaining the post of mayor of the capital - Gavriil Popov was elected a deputy of the Moscow City Council, and then he was appointed its chairman.
Popov's work in this post is often reformist experts. Moreover, in this position, he showed himself as well as possible. Therefore, no questions arose when the topic of elections for the post of mayor, who could be proposed, was on the agenda. As a result of the campaign, Gavriil Popov was elected mayor. True, he did not stay for long.
Everyday life of the mayor of the capital
Popov's activities as mayor of Moscow are still assessed ambiguously. After all, many of his proposals and actions remained incomprehensible. By the way, there were a lot of rumors about Popov at that time. True, he never received any comments on this matter. For example, it was argued that during the coup it was the capital's mayor who was one of the first to report the coup to the American side. For many, the argument for this version was the fact that at the time of the riots, the capital's mayor was calm enough - many had the feeling that he seemed to know how the case would end.
In fact, as political scientists note, the first mayor of Moscow advocated the abandonment of the old communist principles, advocated the destruction of old dogmas and norms. For example, he was one of the first to sign decrees on the demolition of monuments and renaming of squares, streets and even metro stations - in just a year, 10 stations of the Moscow metro were renamed.
And here it is worthwhile to understand that such actions were often perceived negatively by the residents of Moscow and did not find support. His "famous" ideas were often criticized at various levels.
Popov also had controversial initiatives. So, one of these was the project of leasing the Neskuchny Garden. Moreover, it was supposed to be rented by representatives of a mixed (French-Soviet) society. The amount that they were supposed to take for the lease was shocking at all - in 50 years they had to give the city $ 99.
Popov did not last long as the capital's mayor - a year later he handed over the reins of government to his successor, Yuri Luzhkov.
Personal life
Naturally, many are interested in the personal. However, Gabriel Kharitonovich Popov does not indulge the public with rumors about the secret. In his interviews, he diligently avoids talking about family. Although it is known that he has been happily married for a long time, his wife is also an economist by training and has a professorship. The couple have two children, who were named Vasily and Khariton. They were born to a couple with a small difference - only two years. Both Popov's sons studied in the United States, and today they work with their father.
How he lives now
Despite the fact that Gavriil Popov has already celebrated his 80th birthday, he is not retired and does not write his memoirs. The politician and social activist continues to work actively. For example, he has a position at the International University of Moscow. And also the geo was invited to be an adviser to the mayor of Moscow Sobyanin.
