Ex-Moscow mayor Yury Luzhkov said he sent his daughters to London, The Telegraph reported.
Long-serving Luzhkov, 74, was fired by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's decree on September 28 after weeks of speculation about his worsening relations with the Kremlin and his imminent resignation or dismissal. New mayor Sergei Sobyanin took office October 21.
Luzhkov gave an interview to the newspaper, where he expressed concerns about his daughters' safety in Russia.
"We have grounds, very serious grounds to worry about their safety," he told the paper. "There is hatred out there. And if that hatred is all-consuming and the aim is to get at the family then the weakest link in the family is the children. We are afraid to leave them here in Russia."
Luzhkov and his wife Yelena Baturina decided to send their daughters Elena, 18, and Olga, 16, to London "for four to six years," the paper said. The girls will first study English and then to enroll in a university, the former mayor did not name.
Luzhkov said his daughters will live in a house that the family rents in West London.
"It was a shock for the children that we took them out of their studies here," Luzhkov said. "For me and my wife it was a very difficult decision to take."
Luzhkov received a three million ruble ($100,000) severance package following his dismissal. Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper recently unveiled that Luzhkov had been receiving a monthly salary of around $10,000 when he left the mayoral post, although his 2009 registered annual income was $260,000.
Soon after his dismissal Luzhkov took a job as dean of the large cities management department at the Russian State University of Trade and Economy with the token salary of 1 ruble-a-month.
After the Luzhkov was sacked in an interview to CNN he linked his dismissal to the 2012 presidential election.
Before he was given the ax, Luzhkov had been the target of widespread media accusations that he helped his wife, property developer Yelena Baturina, win construction contracts in the Russian capital.
A documentary aired by the NTV channel accused Luzhkov's wife, rated the world's third richest woman by Forbes, of using her husband's position to amass her alleged $2.9 billion wealth. Both Luzhkov and Baturina deny all the accusations.
MOSCOW, November 7 (RIA Novosti)
