When Sergei Sobyanin was named the new mayor of Moscow, he seemed to represent a change, certainly in tone, from his predecessor.  The discreet Putin ally appeared from the shadows like a bland apparatchik in stark contrast to battleaxe Yuri Luzhkov who had been known for his flamboyant style, inflammatory homophobia, flat caps and bombastic taste in architecture.

Slowly but surely similarities have emerged nonetheless.  Take Sobyanin’s stance on gay rights parades for example: early on there was the hint that his tenure might be somewhat more lenient with regards to protest movements that that of Yuzkov, but this was quickly dispelled.  It was well known that Luzhkov’s wife Yelena Baturina earned via her developer Inteko millions through property deals strategically granted by her husband when he was mayor.  This was also apparently, a factor in his downfall.  Now it appears that Sobyanin has emulated Luzhkov’s manner of milking Moscow as if it were his own giant cash cow.  Reports say that he has ordered the repaving of Moscow sidewalks with tiles bought from a company allegedly owned by his wife. Plus ça change.  RFE/RL has some of the details:

Not long after Sobyanin announced in February that the city would replace 4 million square meters of downtown sidewalks, local media noted that his wife, Irina Sobyanina, allegedly owned a brick and curbing business called Aerodromdorstroi.

It had been hoped that Sergei Sobyanin would be a breath of fresh air to Moscow politics.