[Enchante]

some strange kind of banana republic dictatorship, where the Mayor of the national capital can be "fired" without an election

maybe the guy needed firing, I have no idea, but seems like it should be up to a vote of the citizens, not the dictate of the dictatorship

[Celtic Conservative]

I listened to a story about this on the BBC world service. Apparently the mayor offended "dear leader Putin" by criticizing the standing government. Apparently the Moscow mayor serves at the pleasure of the president (it's in their constitution).

CC

[vertolet888]

==some strange kind of banana republic dictatorship, where the Mayor of the national capital can be “fired” without an election==

By the Russian Constitution, the largest cities Moscow (population ~10 mln) and St.Petersburg (~5.5 mln) have the status of a region. Thus the mayor of Moscow is like a governor and can be “fired” by the president of Russia.

This is a disputable question.
Many Russian politicians suggest to divide the mayor’s post into two positions: Moscow governor (a rather political figure) and city-manager (a pure manager).