MOSCOW, August 31. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin, filmmaker Nikita Mikhalkov, former Russian Finance Minister Alexey Kudrin and hockey star Alexander Ovechkin are among the 100 most influential Russians selected for a list published by the Russian Forbes. 

Forbes said its editors and experts chose "Russians who had a vast influence on the economy, business, science, society and policy from 1917 to 2017." The magazine looked at their nominees’ international recognition and the number of people whose lives changed thanks to the influence of candidates, and money-related issues (contracts, budgets, capitalization and market volume.) The list consists of 21 contemporary Russians.

"The most influential Russian over the past 100 years is the planet’s first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, he was chosen by 52.2% of its readers." The Forbes list stated that Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin and current Russian President Vladimir Putin had the same amount of votes (44.6%), though it placed Stalin in second place and Putin in third.

Others on the 10 most influential Russians are also Andrei Sakharov, the father of the Soviet hydrogen bomb, and Pavel Durov, the founder of Vkontakte social network and Telegram messenger.

The youngest Russian on the list was Vitalik Buterin, 23, who created the Ethereum cryptocurrency platform.