The undeground metro rails are financed by local governments, and Luzhkov always had money in Moscow, no matter who was the president at the federal level. BTW, that's the thing to keep in mind while discussing infrastructure: many bits are not a direct responsibility of the federal government.

Say, suburban rails on UrbanRail.Net is the responsibility of a private but state owned RZhD, some sea ports are private, some airports are essentially concessions to operating companies. The tendency is to privatize the bits of infrastructure and expect them modernize from the profits without state or local government help.