MOSCOW, November 28 (RIA Novosti) – Time magazine said Thursday that it had shortlisted Russian President Vladimir Putin as a candidate for “person of the year,” a title awarded for having done the most to influence a year’s events, “for better or for worse.”
Putin, who already received the title in 2007, has this year “locked horns with the US over the fate of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, who now lives in exile in Moscow, and served as a key obstacle to Western plans for intervention in the Syrian conflict,” the magazine said.
Earlier this year, Forbes named Putin “the world’s most powerful person.” Forbes said “the autocratic leader of a former superpower” was more influential than “the handcuffed commander-in-chief of the most dominant country in the world.”
Times’ shortlist also includes Snowden, who ranks fifth in the online voting, three spots above Putin.
Currently leading the online poll, with almost a quarter of the votes, is US pop star Miley Cyrus, who shocked American audiences in August with a risque performance at an MTV awards ceremony.
Other candidates are the newborn heir to the British throne Prince George, Pope Francis, Boston bombing suspects Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, as well as the leaders of the United States, Syria, China and Iran. The list has 42 candidates.
