Vasili Pronin

Vasily Prokhorovich Pronin (Russian: Васи́лий Про́хорович Про́нин; 25 December 1905 – 12 October 1993) was a Soviet statesman and Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Moscow City Council of Laborers' Deputies (today's equivalent of mayor) between April 14, 1939 and December 7, 1944.

Vasily Pronin was born into a peasant family in the village of Pavlovo in Ryazan guberniya. As a young man, he earned his living by working as a farm laborer, repairman at the Nizhny Novgorod Railway, switcher at the Moscow Ring Railway, and factory turner. In 1925, Pronin joined the ranks of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) and engaged himself in Komsomol and party activities. Later on he graduated from the Institute of Red Professors and moved to Tuva on a party assignment. In 1938, Vasily Pronin was appointed secretary of the Moscow City Committee of the Communist Party and then became chairman of the Executive Committee of the Moscow City Council in April 1939.

Vasily Pronin contributed significantly to the fulfillment of the General Plan for the Reconstruction of Moscow. In 1939-1940, they rid the capital of seasonality in housing development, introduced the method of rapid-flow construction, and commenced large-scale multi-storey housing development throughout the city. By 1941, they had constructed 13 massive bridges and 45 km of granite embankments and doubled the capacity of water-supply network. Under Pronin's supervision, they strengthened the capital's anti-aircraft defense, built and reinforced bomb shelters, adjusted the Moscow metro for the needs of sheltering of population in case of air raids, and conducted civil defense drills around the city. In the summer of 1940, Vasily Pronin was awarded the Order of Lenin for his success in constant developing and improvement of the municipal services of Moscow.

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