As 2008 started, the names of the country's new President and Prime Minister were already known, and in March the changes in the country's leadership were made official. Many analysts believed that Vladimir Putin, while not completely relinquishing his power, would not publicly interfere into President Medvedev's realm. This myth was quickly debunked. Mr Putin continued giving orders to siloviki in front of TV cameras, even though they are formally subordinated to the President; he was actively involved in foreign policy making; he was allocating funds, and in December he even held a traditional live Q&A session with the public. The format of the latter was slightly modified, but Mr Putin clearly left an impression of a President rather than a Prime Minister.
According to the second myth, Mr Medvedev was a liberal and his presidency was expected to result in general liberalisation in the country. This myth did not last either. The war in Georgia, the changes of the Constitution, his refusal to grant parole to Mikhail Khodorkovsky and filing new charges against him and Platon Lebedev under the second Yukos lawsuit, the reduction of jury powers - all these undermined Mr Medvedev's image of a liberal. The anti-corruption campaign launched by the President did not help restore his liberal credentials. The anti-corruption laws proved to be flawed. Furthermore, the same government agencies, perceived by the public as corrupt, were tasked with fighting corruption. As a result, the campaign became known as "the bee against honey."
Finally, the third and probably the most important myth that was dispelled is the myth about the strength of the national economy and its invincibility to the world economic crisis. The oil prices plummeted, western banks refused to provide loans to Russian businesses, and "the island of stability" sank in a matter of a month.
It is then quite logical that the main parties involved in dispelling these myths occupied the first five positions in the year's newsmaker rankings. The only exception is Yury Luzhkov, the Mayor of Moscow. His rating is always high as he is popular with the media no matter what is happening in the world or in Russia.
The year proved most successful for Igor Sechin, Alexei Miller, and Dmitry Kozak, who significantly improved their positions. Viktor Zubkov, Gennady Zyuganov, Alexei Gordeyev, and Boris Gryzlov showed stable results. For German Gref, Vladislav Churov, Nikolai Patrushev, and especially for Boris Berezovsky, 2008 was a failure. The "enemy number one" in 2007, Berezovsky was not in demand in 2008. For Mr Putin and Mr Medvedev, the year was unstable, but, overall, still successful. From the 2nd quarter they started showing competing results (one was gaining, as the other one losing points); however, they both set personal records in points gained.
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The newsmakers' ratings have been compiled based on the per quarter indexes in 2008. Those newsmakers whose ratings went up at the yearend were included into groups with the increased rankings. Those whose ratings decreased each quarter were included in the declined rankings groups. The stable rankings comprised newsmakers whose ratings changed each quarter by no more than 25% of the average annual rating. The unstable rankings comprised newsmakers whose ratings were most volatile during the year.