Putin was recognized as the leader of the Russian elite

Russian President Vladimir Putin took first place in the ranking of the Russian elite in 2013 - 66% voted for him (64%) surveyed by the VTsIOM researchers.

The second place in the ranking of the Russian elite was taken by the Minister of Defense Sergey Shoigu (43%; 2012-30%), the third place went to Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev (36%; 2012-41%).

The top ten traditionally included singer Alla Pugacheva (18%), politicians Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Mikhail Prokhorov (13%each), Gennady Zyuganov (9%), Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (8%) and Patriarch Kirill (8%).