Last fall, the first mayor of Moscow, Gavriil Popov, turned eighty years old. This undoubtedly smart and talented person has written many scientific works and still leads an active social life. However, the attitude towards him was rather ambiguous. Some fully share his political views and are ready to begin the transformations he had conceived. But others - vehemently condemn the ideas of the first mayor of Moscow and consider them unacceptable. In the biography of Popov, the most incredible events intertwined, making him one of the most famous figures of the twentieth century. So who is he, the first mayor of Moscow, Popov Gavriil Kharitonovich? Our today's article is devoted to the answer to this question.
Brief description of Popov
In the press, this person is always called the first mayor of Moscow, but in reality this period in his career took only one year. And Popov himself never considered this stage to be very important, but he clarified that he had done everything during his reign to prevent the Communists from returning to power and embarking on the path of reform. Subsequently, he himself transferred power to the hands of a successor and continued his activities in various posts.
Gavriil Kharitonovich himself primarily considers himself an economist and has a doctoral degree. He is also a prominent leader of the democratic movement, which has actually brought him in the wake of transformations in politics. In parallel, he oversees the International University of Moscow, once created by George W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev. It trains political strategists who simultaneously receive Russian and American diplomas. Popov believes that it is precisely these specialists who have the future not only of Russia, but of the whole world.
For six years he has been called the "First Deputy Mayor of Moscow." In the government of Moscow, he actually holds the position of adviser to the mayor Sobyanin, but among the people he is confidently considered to be the deputy arbiter of the capital’s fate.
Today, a well-known politician and public figure has many honorary titles and positions. For example, he is an honorary doctor of two American universities, an honorary citizen of Tokyo and Seoul, as well as the president of the Greek community Pontos. This is not the whole list of Popov's titles, because in his long and active life he managed to distinguish himself as a scientist and publicist.
Curriculum Vitae
The first mayor of Moscow was born in the capital in the autumn of the thirty-sixth year of the last century. By his nationality, he is Greek, and both of his parents are immigrants from the Sea of Azov. At the time of the birth of their son, they studied at universities in Moscow.
After graduation, the family moved to Novocherkassk, where Gavriil Kharitonovich lived until the age of seventeen. Studying at school was quite easy for him, so no one was surprised that he had a gold medal in his hands for entering a university. Popov himself later recalled that he could not decide on his future profession, but his fate was decided by chance. At this time, there were real debates in the country on the topic of economics after the published work of Stalin. The young man was very interested in this question, and he submitted documents to the Faculty of Economics of Moscow State University.
Like at school, learning was easy for him. Gavriil Kharitonovich received two scholarships and after graduation he continued his studies in graduate school. In parallel, Popov began to advance along the Komsomol line, which greatly helped him in his studies. By the seventies of the last century, he defended his doctoral dissertation and became the youngest doctor of economic sciences in the Soviet Union.
In the next decade, the future first mayor of Moscow, Popov, headed several different departments at his native university. And by the eightieth year he took charge of the entire Faculty of Economics.
A few words about personal life
The first mayor of Moscow, Gavriil Popov, speaks infrequently of his family. He tries to avoid such conversations, but journalists can cite a few facts from the personal life of this famous public figure.
It is known that Popov has been happily married for a long time. His wife also has an economic education and a professorship.
In marriage, they had two sons - Vasily and Khariton. The age difference between them is two years. Both children of Popov were trained in the United States, and the youngest son today works with his father at the International University of Moscow.
Public activity of G. Kh. Popov in the eighties and nineties of the last century
Gavriil Kharitonovich has always sought to occupy himself with a lot of work and show himself in different fields of activity. While working at Moscow State University, he conducted not only lectures, but also additional seminars on the economy of the USSR.
Popov was always interested in scientific work, so he periodically collaborated with the Academy of Sciences. By the end of the eighties, he took over as editor-in-chief of the journal Voprosy ekonomiki, where he successfully worked for four years.
Around the same time period, Popov was first proposed for the post of People's Deputy of the USSR. Since that time, he began his journey to the metropolitan administration, which played an important role in the life of a doctor of economic sciences.
One year before being elected mayor
In the ninetieth year, Popov was elected to the Moscow City Council. Just a few months later, he became the chairman of this association and began his successful reform work in a new post.
It is worth noting that in the post of chairman of the Moscow City Council, Gabriel Kharitonovich showed himself from the very best side. Therefore, when the issue of alternative elections for the mayor of the capital arose on the agenda, the candidacy of a potential manager surfaced by itself. As a result of the vote, G.Kh. became the first mayor of Moscow Popov, who held this post for only one year.
Mayor of the capital
The activities of Popov as mayor are still evaluated by experts ambiguously. Many of his actions remained incomprehensible, which, however, never really bothered Gabriel Kharitonovich.
Surprisingly, there are many rumors about this period of the life of the first mayor. How true they are is not known, because Popov himself never comments on them. For example, in the media it is often mentioned that the capital mayor was one of the first to know about the planned coup and gave this information to the American secret services. Those, in turn, were preoccupied with a warning from Yeltsin and Gorbachev. Moreover, it is known that in a vague moment Popov was absolutely calm and did not take any serious actions, as if he was sure of the outcome of the situation. However, it is impossible to prove or refute this assumption.
In reality, Popov very quickly abandoned previous communist ideals and initiated the destruction of previous foundations. Today's unofficial first deputy mayor of Moscow in the nineties led the movement to demolish monuments and rename streets. He was personally present at the demolition of the CPSU heritage and signed decrees on the change of names of squares, streets and metro stations. This process has become enormous. For example, ten subway stations were renamed over the year. It is worth noting that such activity often did not have support among Muscovites.
Of the controversial initiatives of Popov, one more is well known. Journalists claim that the mayor of the capital was preparing a project for leasing the Neskuchny Garden. Representatives of French-Soviet society were to become tenants, and the amount they had to pay for fifty years literally struck all cultural people - ninety-nine dollars. Fortunately, this project was not destined to be realized.
A year after his significant appointment, Popov officially resigned and handed over the administration of the capital to his successor, Yuri Mikhailovich Luzhkov.
Life after resigning as mayor
After the resignation, today's unofficial first deputy mayor of Moscow has not lost his influence in the metropolitan administration. Journalists claim that he was always somewhere near the mayors and played the role of their closest advisers.
Officially, the social life of Popov was very busy, because he managed to combine activities in different posts. Almost simultaneously, he headed the International Union of Economists and the International University of Moscow. The last institution in the nineties had no analogues, because it was the first non-state university of this level.
Today, Gabriel Kharitonovich is an active member and leader of many public associations. Many of them are connected with the economy, others with politics, and still others with its ethnic roots.
A bit about politics
Popov’s political worldview is often attacked by other politicians, journalists, and even ordinary people. Despite the fact that he has significant oratorical abilities, his ideas seem strange to many.
During his tenure as mayor, he actively supported Yeltsin, believing that he was in the best possible way with the people's ideas about the good-natured gentleman. Popov has repeatedly said that the people themselves do not seek to change their lives for the better, which means they want to shift the responsibility to someone else. At the same time, he argued that the Russians are able to accept any chapter that creates the necessary conditions for their existence.
At the beginning of the 2000s, it was Gavriil Kharitonovich who became the man who criticized the government’s measures to overcome the crisis with all his might and published a book where the traitor General Vlasov made excuses. He exposed his act in a completely different light than was accepted, which could not but cause a public outcry.
At the same time, Popov became one of the developers of socio-economic transformations, which were supposed to completely change not only Russian reality, but the whole world structure as a whole.
Global redivision of the world through the eyes of the first mayor
Popov openly claims that it is time to create a world government that would completely change the balance of power on the planet. Gavriil Kharitonovich even developed a whole program of several points that cause a negative reaction among many public figures. In the article we will give just a few of the most controversial provisions of this program.
For example, Popov proposes to put the birth rate of children under strict control. He suggests creating a system according to which the number of new citizens should depend on the wealth and level of development of the country. In addition, he suggests tracking genetic mutations and hereditary diseases of the unborn child at the stage of the embryo. If there are any, then his birth will be impossible. In the future, the nation’s gene pool is supposed to be cleaned by abortion and sterilization, including forced sterilization.
In addition, Popov believes that not all citizens should have equal suffrage. Only honored and active members of society can be awarded this honor.
Publications
Over the years, Popov has written many books, but almost all of them can be classified as scandalous. For example, one of the publications is devoted to the war of the forty-fifth year, which appears before readers in a completely strange light, and Stalin is almost equated with Hitler.
Conclusion
Today, Popov is the unofficial first deputy mayor. In the Moscow government you will not find his orders, because he acts on a voluntary basis. However, Gabriel Kharitonovich maintains close relations with many political leaders and public figures. In their society, he can, for example, be seen on the first cup of the mayor of Moscow.
No matter how much the activity of Popov is evaluated by different people, it cannot be denied that he made a significant contribution to the political and public life of Russia of the last century.