Nezavisimaya Gazeta: "Russian politicians in November"
Dmitry Orlov and Alyona Korpusova
United Russia activists consolidated their positions this November. The influence of senior officials tackling financial-economic issues was also stabilised.
The November top one hundred included several State Duma deputies from the United Russia party, namely:
Vladimir Pligin, chairman of the lower parliament house's constitutional legislation committee (89th place)
Konstantin Kosachyov, chairman of the Duma's foreign affairs committee (94th place)
First Deputy House Speaker Oleg Morozov (97th place)
Deputy General Council Presidium Secretary Andrei Isayev (98th - 99th place).
Other new entrants include:
Alexander Shokhin, President of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (77th place)
NTV Channel CEO Vladimir Kulistikov (92nd place)
Igor Yurgens, Director of the Institute for Contemporary Development (100th place).
The federal administrative elite
The Putin-Medvedev tandem has outraced all other contenders. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin (9, 44) continues to retain his leading positions and is followed by President Dmitry Medvedev (9, 26).
Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin (third place) have changed places with First Deputy Presidential Administration Head Vladislav Surkov (fourth place) but they have similar popularity ratings.
Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin (fifth place) and First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov (sixth place) have consolidated their positions.
Presidential Administration Head Sergei Naryshkin (seventh place) and Deputy Prime Minister/Chief of Government Staff Sergei Sobyanin (eighth place) retain stable levels of influence.
Due to the more important foreign-policy agenda, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (ninth place) has become more influential.
Presidential Aide Arkady Dvorkovich has soared to 14th place from 41st place in October. This can obviously be explained by his active involvement in preparing President Medvedev's state-of-the-nation address.
The economic bloc's consolidated influence continues to increase. The positions of Tatiana Golikova (12th place) have improved slightly. Economic Development Minister Elvira Nabiullina moved to 16th place.
Central Bank Chairman Sergei Ignatyev (23rd place) has consolidated his positions a great deal. The popularity of First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov (33rd -36th place) has increased due to his active involvement in tackling agro-industrial problems.
Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov (27th-28th place) and Natural Resources Minister Yury Trutnev (56th place) have retained their positions. Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak (24th place) has become more popular. This is probably explained by his more active efforts to oversee construction of Olympic facilities in Sochi.
Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Khristenko (27th - 28th place) has also become more popular.
However, the positions of Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu (47th place) and Justice Minister Alexander Konovalov (45th place) have weakened.
Virtually all officials working in the formation of domestic and information policies have become more influential. Oleg Govorun, Head of the Presidential Domestic Policy Department, jumped to 44th place. This can obviously be explained by the fact that Govorun is a member of the United Russia Party's Supreme Council.
Govorun's deputy, Konstantin Kostin (83rd place) has also become more popular. Oleg Dobrodeyev, CEO of the All-Russian State Television and Radio Company (VGTRK), maintains traditionally strong positions (51st-52nd place). Konstantin Ernst, CEO of TV Channel One, jumped to 55th place from 76th place in October.
Presidential spokesperson Natalia Timakova (68th-69th place), whose influence has weakened considerably, was an exception this November.
The regional elite
Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov lost his status as a regional-elite leader, after falling to 37th-39th place from 22nd place in October. Luzhkov's considerably weaker positions are linked with his statement on the need for direct gubernatorial elections that caused the President's extremely tough response. Obviously, this sharp decline in Luzhkov's popularity is influenced by time-serving factors; and the Moscow Mayor's influence will gradually stabilise.
St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matviyenko (30th place) was "forced" to become the regional-elite leader. Her ratings remain the same as in October.
The influence of regional leaders is marked by varying trends. The positions of Krasnodar Territory Governor Alexander Tkachyov (90th place), Kemerovo Region Governor Aman Tuleyev (110th place) and Bashkortostan President Murtaza Rakhimov (129th place) are weaker. At the same time, President Mintimer Shaimiyev of the Republic of Tatarstan (78th place),who is one of the traditional leaders, is becoming more influential. This November, the positions of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov (60th-61st place) were weakened considerably due to the deteriorated intra-elite situation and certain aggravation of criminal situation in the republic.
This November, Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoys in the South and Central Federal Districts, Vladimir Ustinov (102nd place) and Georgy Poltavchenko (108th-109th place) dropped out of the top hundred.
Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoys in the Urals, Far Eastern and Siberian Federal Districts, Pyotr Latyshev (127th-128th place), Oleg Safonov (136th-137th place) and Anatoly Kvashnin (147th place) are traditional outsiders.
The partisan elite
The November 2008 Tenth United Russia Congress highlighted the stronger role of the main partisan leader, Vladimir Putin. This helped to adjust the popularity ratings of partisan activists. The positions of Supreme Party Council Chairman Boris Gryzlov (15th place) were stabilised.
The influence of General Council Presidium Secretary Vyacheslav Volodin (37th-39th place) increased dramatically. The positions of Central Election Commission Chairman Andrei Vorobyov (70th place) improved to some extent.
Indicatively, the top hundred now includes such party activists as Pligin, Kosachyov, Morozov and Isayev. Moreover, non-partisan politicians Govorun and Shokhin, elected to partisan bodies, have consolidated their positions.
Heightened public activity of Russian Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov (49th place) served to consolidate his positions. The influence of Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky (64th place) remains stable.
Just Russia leader Sergei Mironov dropped to 50th place, while Deputy State Duma Speaker Alexander Babakov (Just Russia) still holds 91st place.
The influence of Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia (11th place) is traditionally very strong. Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad (59th place), is becoming more influential due to his public activity.
The business elite
The influence of private businessmen and top state managers is also marked by multi-directional trends. Roman Abramovich (18th place) dropped out of the top ten, while Oleg Deripaska (22nd place) left the top twenty.
The reduced popularity of top-level businessmen is primarily explained by the fact that they have failed to settle financial issues without federal intervention in conditions of the global economic crisis.
LUKOIL CEO Vagit Alekperov (26th place) became much more popular because his oil company continues to actively expand in global markets despite the ongoing crisis.
Alexei Miller, CEO of Energy giant Gazprom (tenth place), also became more influential. His consolidated positions were probably influenced by Russian-Ukrainian agreements on repaying Kiev's gas debts by December 1.
Sergei Chemezov, CEO of Russian Technologies Corporation, rose to 17th place. This probably happened after the prime minister signed a resolution on transferring sizeable assets to this corporation.
Vladimir Yakunin, CEO of transport monopoly Russian Railways (33rd-36th place), became less influential.
The popularity of Vneshtorgbank CEO Andrei Kostin (29th place) soared due to the implementation of his bank's crediting measures at this time of economic instability.
The influence of Russian Nanotechnology Corporation CEO Anatoly Chubais (37th-39th place) and Nikolai Tokarev, CEO of pipeline monopoly Transneft (73rd place), is stabilise.
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Candidate of History Dmitry Orlov heads the Agency of Political and Economic Communications (APEK). Alyona Korpusova is an APEK analyst.
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APEK research methodology
Analysts are asked to fill out questionnaires for assessing the ratings of the 100 most influential Russian politicians. The November 2008 poll involved 25 analysts, namely political analysts, public relations directors, media anaylists and representatives of political parties.
Analysts are asked the following question: "How would you assess on a ten-point scale the influence of the following Russian politicians in the Presidential Administration, the Government and the Federal Assembly?"
First, the respondent assesses the influence of each candidate listed in the questionnaire. The mathematical mean of the responses, average points, is then calculated.
Each respondent may add not more than five persons who, in his opinion, should be mentioned in the ratings but are not listed in the questionnaire. If at least two respondents mention one contender not listed in the questionnaire, then he or she will be assessed by all respondents the following month.
The final ratings are a consolidated assessment of the influence of 100 Russian politicians by influential leaders of the Russian political and business community. Persons in the ratings are listed in the following sections: "Very Strong Influence" (first - 20th place), "Strong Influence" (21st-50th place) and "Average Influence" (51st-100th place).
List of experts
1. Political analysts, spin doctors and media experts
Sergei Zverev, Public Relations Development Company; Vyacheslav Nikonov, Russky Mir Foundation; Alexei Chesnakov, Russian Political Situation Centre; Alexei Pushkov, TV Centre Channel; Pyotr Tolstoi, TV Channel One; Sergei Brilyov, Rossia TV Channel; Dmitry Orlov, Agency of Political and Economic Communications; Kirill Tanayev, Effective Politics Foundation; Dmitry Badovsky, R&D Institute of Social Systems; Konstantin Simonov, National Energy Security Foundation; Yevgeny Gontmakher, Institute for Contemporary Development; Alexei Zudin, Centre of Political Technologies; Vitaly Ivanov, Russian Political Situation Centre; Leonid Radzikhovsky, political analyst; Andrei Kolesnikov, Centre of Political Philosophy; Alexander Budberg, Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper; Stepan Lvov, All-Russian Centre for the Study of Public Opinion; Maxim Dianov, Institute of Regional Problems; Dmitry Gusev, Bakster Group.
2. Partisan representatives
Andrei Pisarev, United Russia; Oleg Kulikov, Russian Communist Party; Nikolai Levichev, Just Russia; Igor Lebedev, Liberal Democratic Party of Russia; Sergei Ivanenko, Yabloko Party; Leonid Gozman, Right Cause Party.
