Ilya Glazunov is Russia’s most elite artist. If for no other reason, than because none of his colleagues made it into the Russian elite rating.
Photo: Dmitry Dukhanin
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Who is First?
This year’s rating consists of 182 people. Some people have gotten rated for the fourth time in four years, some for the first.
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The Elite Surrounding the President
The rating winner was as predictable before the rating as the president before the 2004 elections. Especially, since it is the same person. The majority of the Russians questioned ranked Vladimir Putin as political elite fourth year in a row. It is very unlucky a time machine has not been invented: it would be of interest to see who would win during Yeltsin’s presidency: Yeltsin or Alla Pugacheva?
There is one interesting moment in all of this, however. Putin received the least votes this year than he had in all four years, although he still remains a leader, passing his closest candidates with a huge gap.
Not everybody who ran for president in March 2004 made it into the elite list. So, the Chairman of the Federation Council Sergey Mironov and LDPR Deputy in the State Duma Oleg Malyshkin did not make it into the list this time. The majority votes were given to leader of Our Choice party Irina Khakamada: she rates tenth second year in a row, which makes her the most elite woman in the Russian politics.
It is interesting that more Russians voted for her to be included in the Russian elite, than for her to become the RF president. However, the situation is just the opposite with KPRF candidate Nikolay Kharitonov (a debutante of our rating, by the way). Only 1.71 percent of the questioned considered him the elite, while he had many more votes at the March presidential elections.
Another candidate for president Sergey Glazyev made it into the fourth dozen. It is interesting that his co-candidate on the Rodina block Dmitry Rogozin is ten points higher. Both politicians are at the same position as last year.
At the same time the politicians who actively pursued the 2003 State Duma elections, but withdrew from the presidential elections in 2004 have lost their points significantly.
LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky moved from the third place to the sixth (the number of Russians considering him elite reduced almost by twice since last year). KPRF leader Gennady Zuganov dropped even lower – from the 4th place to 22nd (a year ago every forth Russian ranked Zuganov as elite, now – every twentieth). SPS ex-leader Boris Nemtsov dropped from the 6th to the 29th place. However, Yabloko leader Grigory Yavlinsky dropped the lowest – from the 5th to the 40th place. Just recently almost 20 percent Russians thought him elite, while to date he does not pass even a 3 percent barrier to being one.
Russia’s ex-president Boris Yeltsin holds his positions in the rating rather surely, thereby confirming that a president is an elite even when he is retired. Last year Yeltsin rated 18th, this year he shares the 19th place with singer Lev Leshchenko. And his colleague, ex-president of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev, suddenly rose from 81st to 53rd position.
Elite Government Officials
Emergency Minister Sergey Shoigu (3rd place) has the best rank in the rating. He has ranked high throughout all four years of our poll.
Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov rose from 11th place last year to 4th this year.
Boris Gryslov also rose from 14th to 11th place, and the number of people, ascribing him to elite grew from 7.92 percent to 10.1 percent.
Evgeny Primakov’s rise is completely inexplicable. It is hard to understand what the head of the Commerce and Industry Chamber has done to impress his fellow countrymen, who rated him 13th after last year’s 41st place. It has been a while since he turned around the planes flying to the United States. He also had not been a witness at the court hearing over Slobodan Milosevic at the time of questioning. Nevertheless, the public has been showing more attention to Primakov.
Two Prime Ministers being neighbors in the rating look rather amusing. Mikhail Kasyanov having lost his post also lost elite weight, dropping from 12th to 47th position. Ranking next after him is the new head of the government Mikhail Fradkov (46th), who was not rated in any elite polls last year. Therefore, Fradkov turned out to be the most successful debutant among the government officials in the elite rating. Another ex-Prime Minister and currently the RF Ambassador to Ukraine Viktor Chernomyrdin dropped from the 27th place to 111th in one year.
The Russians are finally able to distinguish between the two Ivanovs – before last year it was impossible to count the votes, because those questioned could not remember their first names and voted for a nameless Ivanov. This year the confusion has been almost fixed. Defense Minister Sergey Ivanov is considered more elite (24th place) than the Security Council Secretary, and former Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov (61st place). At the same time both namesakes improved their positions in our rating rising by two dozen positions each. And the nameless Ivanov, which was voted for by his least politically educated countrymen shares the 111th place with many other elite Russians.
Sergey Lavrov, who replaced Igor Ivanov in the Foreign Ministry of Russia, was immediately ranked as elite (94th place).
As far as strengthening the authority vertical this reform was clearly reflected in the elite rating: the head of presidential administration Dmitry Medvedev, who never made it to the elite rating before was rated 79th.
The Singing Elite
Alla Pugacheva, the “grandmother of Russian singers,” frequently seen on TV last year training “grandchildren” restored the position she had lost last year (7th because of the high interest towards the parliament elections). Now she rates second right after Vladimir Putin. The number of Russians who voted for her increased from 14.8 percent to 26.5 percent.
Another person who had a powerful breakthrough was Iosif Kobzon, rising from the 28th to the 5th place, leaving a number of presidents, chairmen and governors behind. The reasons for his popularity are still not clear, as well as what spurred the attention of the public – the old songs, or the improvement of the culture (Kobzon’s main responsibility at the State Duma).
Rating third among singers and 14th in the general rating is the husband of the most elite singer Filipp Kirkorov. Her daughter Kristina Orbakaite rates 158th.
Singer No. 4 is Lev Leshchenko (19th in the rating). The next one after him is Nikolay Baskov (29th).
Rating 31st (which is also a powerful rise compared to last year) is composer Aleksandra Pakhmutova. The songs written to her music and the lyrics by Nikolay Dobronravov (121st) were sung by Iosif Kobzon, Lev Leshchenko, and many others.
However, the rating is full of singers, whose music concept clashes with names such as Pakhmutova and Dobronravov. For instance, Boris Grebenshchikov, who ironically shares the 121st place with Dobronravov. Or Vyacheslav Butusov (158th place).
Among the singing elite were listed Igor Krutoi, Larisa Dolina, Oleg Gazmanov, Vitas, Valeria, Alsu, Igor Nikolaev, Edita Pyekha (a debutant of our rating, by the way), Nadezhda Kadysheva, Ludmila Zykina, Aleksandr Rosenbaum, Valentina Tolkunova, Yury Antonov, Boris Moiseev. The singing elite presented by the rating can suit any taste, although the public is obviously inclined to nostalgia.
Representatives of a more serious approach to music were also named. Mstislav Rostropovich rates 53rd, Galina Vishnevskaya – 93rd, Valery Gergiev – 133rd.
Elite? Is this a Joke?
Jokes seem to help people get into the elite list. Mikhail Evdokimov must know how to joke, judging by his 51st place in the rating and his being able to transfer from the “Anshlag” humorist show to the Altai Territory Governor’s seat. Quite a few of his colleagues by first profession made it into the elite as well. Traditionally, the first humorist of the country is Maksim Galkin (15th). He is followed by Evgeny Petrosyan, Mikhail Zadornov, Vladimir Vinokur, Klara Novikova, Gennady Khazanov, Efim Shifrin, and Mikhail Zhvanetsky, who does not only tell jokes but knows how to make them up.
Our respondents also joked quite a bit when answering our question on what Russians they considered to be the elite. The people they named did not make it up to the rating, but we wanted to give you some examples as an illustration of a special sense of humor of an average Russian. So, in response to the question on what people made the biggest contribution to the wellbeing of Russia some respondents named Michael Shoemaker, Bruce Willis, Julia Roberts, Pablo Picasso and the Swedish hockey player Fredrik Modin. The idea to rank The Beatles among the Russian elite is rather warming, but a vote given to murderer Colonel Budanov was a bad joke.
The God Appointed Elite
Compared to last year Moscow and All Russia Patriarch Alexy II drastically improved his position. He rose from 38th to 7th position and the number of Russians, giving their votes for him increased by a fourth – from 2.9 percent and 11.25 percent.
Another representative of the Russian Orthodox Chruch, the Archbishop of Ekaterinburg, and Verkhoturye Vikenty rated 133rd.
Traditionally, we do not rate muftis, lamas and rabbis. And we abstain from any comment on this subject.
The Big Screen Elite
It is no small task to make one’s debut in our rating and get into the top ten at the same time. However, film director Nikita Mikhalkov was able to do both. Last year he did not even get into the first 200 elite Russians, and this year he has made it into the top ten. The last line in the rating, which is shared by 25 people, is taken by Mikhalkov’s brother and colleague, Andrey Mikhalkov-Konchalovsky. Unfortunately, the father of the two elite brothers, Sergey Mikhalkov, did not make it into the rating this year.
One more debutant in the rating is Fedor Bondarchuk, a representative from another celebrities’ dynasty. He shares the 64th line with Tatarstan President Mintimer Shaimiev and a debutant actor Sergey Bezrukov.
Generally most of elite cinematographers are the actors of the golden age of the Soviet filmmaking. Judge for yourselves: Inna Churikova, Stanislav Govorukhin, Nonna Mordukova, Mikhail Boyarsky, Lidia Fedoseeva-Shukshina, Oleg Basilashvili, Mikhail Pugovkin. The new actors, however, have also made their way to the elite rating, Dmitry Pevtsov, and Aleksandr Baluev, for instance.
The TV Elite
The fourth rating of the TV elite proved that those who are frequently showed on TV are sure to get into our rating, no matter their profession - politicians, singers, businessmen or sportsmen. Everybody gets on TV, I mean all the elite. It is hard to find somebody from our rating who has not been showed on TV.
As far as those, for whom TV is the main job, Vladimir Pozner rates the highest. Among his colleagues are Svetlana Sorokina, Leonid Yakubovich, Andrey Malakhov, Andrey Makarevich, Ekaterina Andreeva, etc.
Leonid Parfenov rated 67th. Although he is listed as the editor-in- chief of a magazine, it is doubtless he was listed among the elite as a TV journalist. A similar situation is with his colleague Evgeny Kiselev: he publishes a newspaper but is still reaping the fruit of his successful career at TV.
The Sports Elite
Tennis, judo, and mountain skiing are considered an elite kind of sports. A professional skier who would win Russia’s public favor has not yet appeared. However, the situation with tennis players is much better. It turns out that the people give their preference to representatives of other sports.
Rating the highest is gymnast Alina Kabaeva. The 32nd place is Aleksey Nemov, who appeared in our rating for the first time.
Maria Sharapova, the best tennis player of 2004 rates 36th, which, by the way, is her debut. Anastasia Myskina, also a debutant at the rating is 87th. The third debutant, tennis player Svetlana Kuznetsova is 133rd.
Following them are hockey players – a former (legendary Vladislav Tretyak) and a current one (no less legendary Pavel Bure).
Representatives of boxing (Konstantin Tziu), chess (Garry Kasparov), swimming (Aleksandr Popov) are also present at the rating.
The most popular specialist on the judo Dmitry Nosov is on the same level as Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Oligarchs
Formally, the best businessman of the year is Iosif Kobzon, but the poll respondents gave their votes to him for his music career rather than that of business. After all, musicians Alla Pugacheva and Igor Krutoi, and film director Nikita Mikhalkov are also businessmen in a sense.
However, of the real businessmen the most elite Russian is the owner of Chelsea, CSKA and Sibneft Roman Abramovich. He first appeared in our rating two years ago and is confidently approaching the top of the list. In 2002 - 124th place, in 2003 – 87th, in 2004 – 16th. It would be interesting to see where he will end up next year.
Last year Mikhail Khodorkovsky was at the place where Abramovich is this year. In one year the most famous Russian prisoner dropped from the 15th to the 35th place. The number of Russians, ranking him as elite decreased from 10.1 to 3.14 percent. Although, his popularity could be envied by many of those who enjoy their freedom.
Political emigrant Boris Berezovsky also lost points dropping from the 24th to the 33rd line.
Ex-Elite
The elite rating has been renewed by a fourth thsi year. TV journalist Savik Shuster had the highest rank of those, who dropped out of the ratomg. Government officials Sergey Yastrzhembsky, Vladimir Rushailo, Aleksandr Pochinok and Aleksandr Voloshin, politicians Nikolay Travkin and Viktor Gerashchenko, deputy Svetlana Goryacheva and institute director Egor Gaidar are among those who are no longer thought to be the elite. Anna Kurnikova was replaced by young competitors – no less beautiful than her, but more successful in sports. Businessman Vladimir Gusinsky is also no longer considered elite.
There were especially many changes in the lists of elite TV hosts and pop-singers. Representatives of those professions must be elite only for a season if not for an hour.
Aleksey Alekseev
All the Article in Russian as of Jan. 10, 2005
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