Presidential nominee for Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin vowed on Wednesday to reduce unemployment among Muscovites.
"It is Muscovites who should be provided with whatever jobs are available in Moscow first of all," he told a meeting with the capital's trade union federation.
He said the jobs should be "high-tech, modern and well paid."
The number of officially registered unemployed in the 11 million-strong Russian capital is just below 50,000 people. The real figure is much higher however as the vast majority of people do not claim benefits.
President Dmitry Medvedev picked Sobyanin, 52, to replace long-serving Yury Luzhkov last Friday.
Medvedev sacked Luzhkov on September 28, citing "a loss of confidence."
Moscow City Duma is expected to rubberstamp Sobyanin's appointment on Thursday.
Described in the media as the "dark horse" of Russian politics, Sobyanin served as the governor of the minerals-rich Tyumen region in the early 2000s. In 2005, he became chief of staff to then president Vladimir Putin. He ran Medvedev's election campaign in 2008.
MOSCOW, October 20 (RIA Novosti)
