Moscow: Moscow`s ex-mayor Yuri Luzhkov told a magazine on Monday he will not contest his high-profile sacking in court, but would stay in the political arena and push for more democracy.
"I did not take such a decision and I will not do so," Luzhkov, 74, told opposition magazine New Times in his first interview since President Dmitry Medvedev dismissed him on September 28 after an escalating spat with the Kremlin.
Luzhkov`s close friend, the famous singer Iosif Kobzon, had told the Interfax news agency last week that Luzhkov would challenge his dismissal in court.
"I do not believe that the supreme court will make a decision which would contradict with the president`s decree," Luzhkov said in the extensive interview. Luzhkov, who was ousted after 18 years of power, said he wanted to forge democracy in Russia -- in an evident jab at the Kremlin.
"Going into politics means working on the establishment of the laws of a democratic society. Today our society has laws that are not democratic," he said.
He said he would form a political movement.
Bureau Report
