Inauguration of Moscow’s elected mayor Sobyanin to take place September 12

The inauguration of newly elected Moscow’s mayor Sergei Sobyanin is scheduled for September 12, as reported by Moscow City Election Committee’s press service. September 11, the election committee will register the elected mayor. On Tuesday, the Moscow City Election Committee has officially approved the results of mayoral election held September 8, at which Sobyanin gained 51.37% of votes. After the committee’s session a notice was sent to Sobyanin informing him on his election as mayor. Election data results have been handed to media for publication. The inauguration ceremony of Moscow’s mayor is usually held in the White stateroom of the capital’s city hall. The hall is decorated with Russia’s tricolored flag, city’s flag, as well as with Moscow’s standard depicting the city’s patron Saint George the Conqueror and Moscow’s awards. The White stateroom represents one of the finest examples of Moscow’s classicism and has always been the place for welcome receptions. Together with two neighboring Red and Blue staterooms, it is a place of obligatory attendance for visiting dignitaries. The ceremony will run for about an hour. After the national anthem Moscow City Duma speaker will announce the new mayor, which, in his turn, will take an oath and put his signature under it. Then, the Moscow City Duma speaker will hand to the new mayor the titular sign constituting a silver locket on a chain with George the Conqueror defeating the snake in the middle. The chain links, according to experts, “symbolize the heroic exploits and historical buildings in Moscow.” The decision to make a titular sign was taken in 1996, and the symbol was being created for about a year. The first time in modern Russia it has been made as a chain and locket, similarly to efficiency decorations and badges of merit of pre-revolutionary Russia. The modern sign has an appearance of a piece of art. The chain and the locket weigh about 1.2 kg, the sign itself is made of silver with gold plating and decorated with 840 semiprecious stones. The chain is stored in a case made of a unitary oak block of corn color. The price of the chain and locket is kept secret. The titular sign is stored in mayor’s office; it is not handed to an acting mayor and is used by the city’s head on festive occasions and ceremonies. The new mayor will also receive from the Moscow City Duma chairman the so called mayoral “credentials” – an A4 sheet with watermarks decorated with city’s markings. The ceremony will end with Moscow’s anthem.