While some news outlets reported in the footsteps of Russian channel REN TV that the politician had passed away after the surgery, some reports suggested he had died during the procedure.
Sputnik has compiled the key milestones of Yury Luzkkov’s life and work:
• The politician and businessman (of late), served as the long-standing mayor of the Russian capital from 1992 to 2010, quitting the role at the request of then president Dmitry Medvedev due to a “loss of trust".
• Under Luzhkov, a whole number of new buildings were erected, along with affordable prefab housing for city dwellers. Separately, Muscovites saw the landmark new Cathedral of Christ the Saviour re-constructed after it had been demolished by the Soviet authorities in 1931. Luzhkov is known to have introduced quite a few social benefits for Muscovites, including free transportation for the elderly.
• Yury Luzhkov was married to billionaire businesswoman and philanthropist Yelena Baturina, who is the richest woman in Russia, with a fortune of $1.2 billion, according to Forbes.
• Luzhkov’s dismissal came amid the still unsubstantiated accusations of corruption and mismanagement. One of the founders of the ruling party United Russia, the poltiician was at some point tipped to run for the presidency but he never did.
• After his dismissal, the Luzhkov-Baturina family moved to London, where their two daughters Olga and Elena studied. The end of his stint in the political ans social wilderness was marked by President Putin awarding Luzhkov with the state decoration “For Merits to the Fatherland” on 21 September 2016. The honour, Luzhkov said at the time, was a perfect gift for his 80th birthday.
• Central to Luzhkov’s wife’s construction business empire is the construction firm Inteco, which bought a plastic factory and in 1998 won the state contract to produce 85,000 seats for Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow's largest sports venue. Critics took a dig at the move saying the decision was affected by Luzhkov’s high-ranking post. Inteco said though that their price was 50 percent lower than what their closest rivals suggested.
• Luzhkov was of late engaged in the agricultural business and farming in the Kaliningrad Region, western Russia, breeding cattle and growing crops there.
• He authored a number of books including “The Renewal of History: Mankind in the 21st Century and the Future of Russia", “Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears: Reflections of a Moscow Mayor”, and “Russian Parkinson's Law.”
