MOSCOW, December 26 (RIA Novosti) – Russian President Vladimir Putin was the country’s most popular politician in 2013, a recent survey showed.
Forty-four percent of respondents said Putin was the politician of the year, according to the poll, conducted by the state-run Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM).
Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu was in second place with 8 percent, followed by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov with 7 percent.
Outspoken Liberal Democratic Party leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky received 6 percent, and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev got 5 percent.
Putin was also in first place last year with 54 percent, followed by Medvedev with 16 percent and Shoigu with 13.
Last year, Zhirinovsky came in fourth with 7 percent, and Lavrov in seventh with 3 percent.
This year’s poll was conducted on December 14 and 15 among 1,600 people in 130 cities and towns across 42 Russian regions. The statistical margin of error did not exceed 3.4 percent, the pollster said.
