Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin joked about moving the capital of Russia to different regions across the country during a speech at the Moscow Financial Forum.
Russian state news agency TASS reported that the city leader brought up the idea while addressing attendees at the annual financial conference in the Russian capital.
Sobyanin noted that the first thought that comes to mind when considering how to ensure that every region develops like Moscow is to move the capital of the Motherland to a different region every year so that everyone will live happily.
Waste of budget funds and foreign precedent
However, the head of the city added that relocating the national capital is an impractical measure that would result in the empty spending of funds from the public budget. He stated that the past experience of a number of other countries that decided to implement such a move clearly demonstrates that the step is unfeasible.
Sobyanin has served as mayor of Moscow since October 2010, overseeing major urban development, transport infrastructure, and financial management across the metropolitan area. As the capital of Russia, Moscow is the political, economic, and cultural center of the nation, housing the government of the Russian Federation and serving as its primary financial hub.
The Moscow Financial Forum is an established annual gathering organized to discuss key issues of state economic policy, public finance management, and regional budget relations. The event gathers senior federal ministers, regional governors, economists, and corporate executives to address fiscal strategy.
Focusing on stability amid current challenges
It was previously reported that Sobyanin outlined the primary objective facing the municipal administration today, emphasizing that Moscow's main task is to maintain composure and respond calmly to all current challenges.
Debates over economic centralization and the wealth gap between Moscow and other regions have long been a feature of Russian public policy discussions. While several countries around the world have attempted to relocate administrative capitals to stimulate peripheral growth, such endeavors typically involve massive infrastructure costs and complex logistical transitions over many years.
