The man who keeps Moscow calm

Sobyanin (left) walking behind a glass metro map during a ceremony opening the new metro station PhysTech on the outskirts of Moscow. — Reuters

STONY-FACED and reserved, Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin has been entrusted by the Kremlin to keep Russia’s capital running smoothly through mass opposition protests, the disastrous Covid-19 pandemic and now regular Ukrainian drone attacks.

Sobyanin has presided over Europe’s largest city for almost 13 years and is part of an elite class of technocrats quietly keeping the country afloat through the turmoil of the conflict in Ukraine.