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Anatoly Sobchak commemorated in St Petersburg

A remembrance service was held at the Nikolskoye Cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra

ST.PETERSBURG, August 10 (Itar-Tass) – St. Petersburg commemorated Anatoly Sobchak, its first mayor, on his 75th birth anniversary on Friday. A remembrance service was held at the Nikolskoye Cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

Representatives of the Sobchak Foundation, his friends and colleagues attended the ceremony. A wreath was laid on behalf of St. Petersburg Governor Georgy Poltavchenko.

“Being the mayor, Sobchak invited to his team at the Smolny many modern politicians, among them young attorneys Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev,” the politician’s wife, Federation Council member Lyudmila Narusova said. “The establishment of a law-governed state based on laws and their strict fulfillment was the incentive that prompted a well-to-do professor to become a statesman,” she said.

Anatoly Sobchak (1937-2000) was born in Chita. He graduated with a degree in law and became a lawyer. Later on he was a professor at the Leningrad State University Department of Law. He was elected a deputy of the Supreme Council in 1989 and became one of the best known democratic politicians. Sobchak headed the St. Petersburg executive authorities from 1991 to 1996. The city was renamed from Leningrad into St. Petersburg, the historic name, during his office. Also the city started hosting economic and banking forums and international summits in Sobchak’s mayoral office.