MOSCOW, December 14. /TASS/. The Kremlin has not yet commented on the new Forbes’ World's Most Powerful People list topped by Russian President Vladimir Putin for the fourth year in a row.
"We have not seen the list yet," Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS when asked if the list reflected the reality of global politics.
On Wednesday, Forbes ranked Putin the world's most powerful person for the fourth consecutive year, saying that "Russia’s president has exerted his country’s influence in nearly every corner of the globe; from the motherland to Syria to the US presidential elections, Putin continues to get what he wants."
In 2015, when commenting on Putin’s lead in the ranking, Peskov said that it was quite understandable.
"He [Putin] himself has repeatedly spoken about his attitude to the rankings," the presidential spokesman said. "He said that, if he followed the rankings, he would have neither time nor opportunity to do the real work," Peskov added. "At the same time, of course, the president’s activity on the world stage remains in high gear, this stems from the regional and international situation, "Peskov said. "In this case, his lead in the ranking is quite understandable," he said. The Kremlin spokesman noted that Putin had been ranked first not for nothing. "Everybody knows that Putin is a leader who has a very high credibility rating at both national and international level," Peskov stressed.
In 2015, Forbes wrote that "Putin continues to prove he’s one of the few men in the world powerful enough to do what he wants and get away with it. International sanctions set in place after he seized Crimea and waged war-by-proxy in Ukraine have kneecapped the Ruble and driven Russia into deepening recession, but haven’t hurt Putin one bit: In June his approval ratings reached an all-time high of 89%." Forbes added then that "he bombed ISIS forces in Syria… making the US and NATO look weak in the region, and helping rebuild Russian influence abroad.".