Islam Times - Russians choose Putin as Man of Year: Survey

Islam Times - Russians choose their President Vladimir Putin as the Man of the Year in 2013 for the sixth consecutive year, a new survey shows.

The poll was conducted by the Levada Center, a Russian non-governmental polling organization, on December 20 to 24 among 1,603 urban and rural people aged 18 and older in 130 Russian cities, towns, and villages.

Twenty-six percent of the voters chose Putin and seven percent, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and former US National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden gained 4 percent each.

Moreover, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a former Russian oil tycoon, who has recently been pardoned by Putin, got three percent of the votes.

In 2008, Putin received 40 percent of votes in the poll and since then, has always been selected as the Man of the Year.

Putin also gained 44 percent of the votes in another recent survey for selecting the Best Politician of the Year.

The poll, conducted by the state-run Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM), showed that Putin was the country’s top politician in 2013.