Such forgotten concepts as “mayor” and “governor”, as well as the foreign word “mayor”, appeared in the lexicon of Russians in the 90s of the last century, when the process of federalization was going on, local self-government bodies were formed, and subjects of the federation were formed. But, after a decade and a half, it is still not very clear how these positions differ and why they are called that way.
Who are the Governor and Mayor
Since the state structure of Russia is a federation, this means that, as a state, it consists of subjects. A constituent entity of the Federation is a part of a state structure, be it an autonomous republic or an autonomous region within the Russian Federation, a territory or a region. All these administrative units have equal rights and are state structures that perform the functions of the state within their borders.
Article 18, part 6 of the Federal Law "On the General Principles of Organization of Legislative (Representative) and Executive Bodies of State Power of the Constituent Entities of the Russian Federation" states that a constituent entity of the Russian Federation has the right to independently establish the name of the position of a senior official, taking into account historical, national and other traditions … This name must be reflected in the charter of the subject of the Federation. Historically, the administrative units of the Russian Empire were the provinces, therefore, developing their charters, the executive authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation decided that the highest official of this state authority would be named governor.
Settlements located on the territory of a constituent entity of the Federation have the status of a settlement and are not government bodies. In accordance with the 3rd and 12th articles of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the bearer of power, the people of Russia, can exercise their power through elections of self-government bodies. By analogy with foreign elective offices, it was decided to call the heads of local self-government bodies mayors. Although recently many local governments have made changes to their statutes and official documents, mayors are now referred to as heads of municipalities.
The mayor, or still the governor and mayor
In addition to the above-mentioned subjects of the Russian Federation, it was decided to include two more cities of federal importance among them - the former and current capitals of Russia, St. Petersburg and Moscow. During the parade of sovereignty, the statutes of these subjects gave the top officials of these cities the official title “mayor”, but a little later, by the decision of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, this position was renamed “governor”. It turns out that Moscow, as a subject of the Federation, is headed by the mayor, and St. Petersburg is headed by the governor. But, if you follow the historical tradition, in Russia the heads of the capital's authorities have always been called "mayors".
