The Mayor of Moscow is the politician whose rise the Kremlin has been most intent to stop. His firm rule over the capital since 1992 has helped to produce a boom in construction. He himself left the construction industry to enter politics, and is still at home barking orders on a building site in his trademark flat leather cap.

The 63-year-old was comfortably re-elected as Mayor on 19 December, the same day as the parliamentary election, gaining more than 70% of the vote. His party, Fatherland-All Russia, fared worse than expected in the parliamentary election - a fact he blamed on negative media coverage inspired by the Kremlin. Mr Luzhkov's second wife, Elena Baturina, 26 years his junior, is a successful businesswoman. She has been the subject of a corruption investigation, and ran unsuccessfully for parliament as an independent candidate.

Mr Luzhkov denies any interest in running for the presidency, but many journalists doubt his sincerity.