Twenty-five experts (political scientists, political strategists, representatives of the media and various political parties) answered the question, who is the leading politician in Russia this year. The main March trend is the completion of the military operation in Syria and the withdrawal of the bulk of Russian troops in connection with the successful achievement of the goals. It is especially impressive that the military operations in Syria cost no personnel losses, except for the Russian Su-24 aircraft shot down on the orders of Turkish President Erdogan.
We present to you ten people who fell into the rating of the Russian political elite.
10. Elvira Nabiullina
The relative stabilization of the ruble exchange rate, after falling in 2015, allowed the head of the Central Bank to rise in the ranking immediately by two positions and become the first woman to enter the top 10 Russian politicians in 2016 with a total score of 5.44. However, Elvira Nabiullina prefers to avoid "big politics", remaining just an excellent professional. This is recognized on the international stage - in September 2015, Euromoney named Nabiullina the best central bank manager in the world.
9. Igor Sechin
The representative of the Russian business elite, the first person at Rosneft and the head of the board of directors of Rosneftegaz, dropped to ninth place. The total number of points is 5.53. Sechin is losing ground in the international arena - in 2015, he disappeared from the list of 50 most influential people on Earth according to the Bloomberg agency.
8. Alexander Bortnikov
The Syrian operation is the reason for the rise in the rating of the head of the FSB, Alexander Bortnikov. From the ninth line, he moved up to eighth with a total score of 5.71, and the summer scandal with the sale of land on Rublevo-Uspenskoye highway was long and completely forgotten.
7. Kirill (Gundyaev)
The position of the church in the political arena remains stable, and the patriarch of Moscow and All Russia is too well-known in the media to leave the top ten. His total score is 6.10 points. In February, the first meeting in hundreds of years was held with the pope, the head of the Catholic Church, as a result of which both church leaders signed a joint declaration.
6. Sergey Lavrov
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, the master of hard sayings, and concurrently a lover of singing with a guitar, fell to sixth place with a total score of 6.62.
5. Sergey Shoigu
It occupies fifth place in the rating of influence of Russian politicians with a total score of 6.86 points. The abundance of media reasons and the successful completion of the Syrian operation also affected the assessment by Russian residents of the activities of Lavrov and Shoigu - they became two of the most popular ministers of 2016 according to a VTsIOM poll. Well, or at least those whose positions were unmistakably called 70% of Russians.
4. Vyacheslav Volodin
The position of the first deputy head of the presidential administration in the rating remains stable - he, like last year, takes fourth position with a total score of 7.04. Perhaps the story of charity also played a role: last month he donated 8 million rubles from personal funds to support and develop museums and children's art schools in the Saratov region.
3. Dmitry Medvedev
Compared to February, Medvedev’s position worsened - he sank to third place with a total score of 7.34 points. However, media reasons with his participation since the beginning of the year are not enough - he travels to mining regions, denies statehood and the presence of industry in Ukraine, and once again promises help to the poor and members of vulnerable social categories. The war in Syria is certainly a brighter event.
2. Sergey Ivanov
The top 10 position of the head of the presidential administration was influenced by a large number of media occasions - especially a recent trip to China. There, he helped maintain “trustful, equitable and good neighborly” relations and helped the Chinese comrades to combat bribery and corruption, because Russia has extensive experience in this area. Now Ivanov is in second place with a total score of 7.68.
1. Vladimir Putin
And the first place in the ranking of statesmen in 2016 is predictably occupied by the president of the Russian Federation. He scored 9.92 points and leads with a significant margin of 2.24 points.
