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 set goals. It is especially impressive that the military operations in Syria did not result in any casualties, except for the Russian Su-24 aircraft shot down by order of Turkish President Erdogan.
We present to you ten people who got into the rating of the Russian political elite.
10. Elvira Nabiullina
Relative stabilization of the ruble exchange rate, after falling in 2015, allowed the head of the Central Bank to climb two positions in the rating at once 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 also recognized internationally - in September 2015, Euromoney named Nabiullina the best central bank leader in the world.
9.Igor Sechin
The representative of the Russian business elite, the first person in Rosneft and the head of the Rosneftegaz board of directors dropped to ninth place. The total number of points is 5.53. Sechin is also losing his position 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 ranking of the head of the FSB, Alexander Bortnikov. From the ninth line, he moved to eighth with a total score of 5.71, and the summer scandal with the sale of land on the Rublevo-Uspenskoe highway has long been 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 ratings. His total score is 6.10 points. In February, the first meeting in many hundreds of years with the Pope of Rome, the head of the Catholic Church, was held, as a result of which both church heads signed a joint declaration.
6.Sergey Lavrov
The foreign minister, master of harsh sayings, and part-time guitarist dropped to sixth place with an overall score of 6.62.
5.Sergey Shoigu
Ranks fifth in the rating of the 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 influenced the assessment by the residents of Russia of the activities of Lavrov and Shoigu - they became the two most popular ministers in 2016 according to the results of the VTsIOM poll. Well, or at least those whose positions 70% of Russians could accurately name.
4. Viacheslav Volodin
The position of the first deputy head of the presidential administration in the ranking remains stable - he, like last year, occupies the fourth position with a total score of 7.04. Perhaps the charity story also played a role: last month he donated 8 million rubles from his 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 has worsened - he dropped to third place with a total score of 7.34 points. However, there are not enough media reasons with his participation since the beginning of the year - he travels to the mining regions, denies statehood and the presence of industry in Ukraine and once again promises to help the poor and representatives of vulnerable social categories. The war in Syria is by far the more striking event.
2.Sergey Ivanov
The position in the top 10 of the head of the presidential administration has been influenced by a large number of media occasions - especially a recent trip to China. There he helped maintain "trusting, equal and good-neighborly" relations and helped Chinese comrades fight bribery and corruption, because Russia has a lot of experience in this area. Ivanov now takes second place with an overall score of 7.68.
1. Vladimir Putin
And the first place in the ranking of statesmen in 2016 is predictably held by the President of the Russian Federation. He scored 9.92 points and is leading by a significant margin of 2.24 points.