The most powerful person.
“The Russian president influences almost every corner of the planet. At home, in Syria, and in the US presidential election, Putin continues to get what he wants.
The Russian factor became central to American pre-election discussions after the Democratic Party, which nominated Hillary Clinton as its presidential candidate, admitted that its servers had been hacked by anonymous hackers. A short time later, a number of American intelligence agencies linked the cyberattack to Russia and, in particular, the Kremlin.
Leaks from confidential Democratic emails damaged the Democrats' image and were one of the factors that brought down Clinton's ratings and led to the victory of Republican Donald Trump. Trump himself, the already elected president of the United States, meanwhile does not hide the fact that he is going to establish contact with Vladimir Putin and reconsider the issue of annexing Crimea to Russia.
Trump-linked financier Carter Page, who also spoke publicly about the Crimea issue in a conciliatory vein, recently visited Moscow.
With a likely ally like Donald Trump in the White House, Putin's power could be unlimited for years to come.
Director General of the APEC Agency for Political and Economic Communications, Dmitry Orlov, believes that coverage of Putin's influence on the American elections helped his authority, regardless of how real this influence was. “The fact that this was discussed strengthened his image positioning,” the source of Gazeta.Ru is sure.
Orlov also notes the role of Russia in politics in the Middle East, in particular, in the Syrian campaign. “Putin, having, in general, few resources and playing against several opponents, managed to win,” he said.
Political scientist Konstantin Kalachev was not surprised by this situation. “Putin is one of the few world leaders who is not fettered by anything and can freely form his own agenda,” said the interlocutor of Gazeta.Ru. “If German Chancellor Angela Merkel rules a country that is stronger than Russia economically, and Barack Obama leads the United States, a country that is more powerful in military potential, then Putin has a lot of authority in itself.”
December 15 Putin arrives in Japan. The main negotiations here will unfold around the territorial dispute over the Kuril Islands. The Russian president has a chance to solve this problem, which has kept Russia and Japan from signing a peace treaty since World War II.
Who is behind Putin
Second place on the Forbes list was given to billionaire and US President Donald Trump - for a direct and aggressive challenge to the globalist trends that America began to follow during the Obama presidency. Last year, the eccentric businessman ranked only 72nd.
The third most powerful person in the world is also the most powerful woman. This is Angela Merkel, "German chancellor and mainstay of the European Union," as Forbes put it. The fourth place went to Chinese President Xi Jinping, the fifth - to Pope Francis.
British Prime Minister Theresa May is 13th, French President Francois Hollande is 23rd, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is 37th.
Photo report: The most powerful people in the world
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58th place went to Russian businessman Alisher Usmanov, the owner of Metalloinvest.
Usmanov is also the richest businessman in Russia after Leonid Mikhelson and Mikhail Fridman.
The current US President Barack Obama is only 48th on this list. “Obama is leaving office at a time of global upheaval; a wave of populism caused political instability in Europe, the beginning of the crisis was the June Brexit of 2016, ”Forbes writes in a commentary.
Political scientist Vyacheslav Smirnov believes that Putin topped the rating at a good moment. “Everything is logical. Former US President Barack Obama is no longer the most influential, and his successor Donald Trump is not yet influential,” Gazeta.Ru’s interlocutor is sure.
However, the expert clarifies that this does not mean that the future American leader will definitely outstrip Putin in the future, just now the Russian president has no alternative for the Forbes team that compiled the rating.
According to Smirnov, the influence of heads of state can be compared with the influence of heads of companies. It is clear that the larger and more influential the company, the heavier the leader. But another question is how much he is still personally influential and determines the entire policy of his company.
“In America, after all, the president is a product of the system. He expresses not his opinion, but the opinion of the opposing groups. And in Russia, on the contrary, everyone supports the opinion of a single ruler,” Smirnov comments.
There are more than 7.4 billion people on planet Earth, but only a very few of them have the ability to change the world. Forbes magazine presents ranking of the most influential people in the world. The selection of participants was made according to the following criteria: the number of people over whom the candidate has power; status and fame.
The youngest influential person on the planet according to Forbes. Mark is only 32 years old, while the other participants, on average, have already exchanged their sixth decade. In 2016, he made a breakthrough, climbing 9 positions in the rankings, and also became the year. With all their wealth (and Mark is worth $50 billion), Zuckerberg and his wife do not forget about charity. In September 2016, he and his wife, Priscilla Chan, pledged to spend $3 billion to eradicate all disease in the world by the end of the century.
9. Narendra Modi
The popularity of Narendra among the people of India is becoming more and more. She was not damaged even by the sudden monetary reform in order to combat corruption. In November 2016, the 66-year-old premier abruptly ordered the cancellation of two Indian banknotes of the highest denomination, which forced the population to storm the exchangers.
8. Larry Page
In eighth position is the developer of the world famous search engine Google. Google was reorganized last year and is now a subsidiary of Alphabet. Larry is chairman of the board there.
7. Bill Gates
A man worth $83.8 billion can afford extravagant gestures such as setting up a chicken coop in one of Manhattan's skyscrapers. But do not think bad - it's all within the framework of the fight against poverty. Bill Gates is simply fascinated by chickens and believes that breeding these animals is a sure way for the people of Africa to get out of poverty.
6. Janet Yellen
American economist and head of the US Federal Reserve System, which is responsible for controlling the activities of banks and other financial institutions. Her popularity among ordinary Americans is added by the fact that Janet prefers to express herself as clearly, clearly and understandably as possible, which makes her one of.
5. Pope Francis
The only religious leader and the oldest participant in the ranking of the most influential people on the planet. Pope Francis is 79! However, he is quite cheerful and continues to inspire his gigantic flock (according to statistics - 1.3 billion people).
4. Xi Jinping
From the very beginning of his presidency in 2012, Xi Jinping has set a course for reform and the fight against corruption. The popularity of the Chinese leader is added by his unconventional openness for China - for example, he recently allowed a detailed description of one day in his life to be published in the media.
3. Angela Merkel
Forbes regards Merkel as the last bastion of the liberal west in the way of Russia's growing influence. In 2016, Angela, as a supporter of the European Union, had to cope with the consequences of Brexit, and she also had to somehow assimilate the migrants who flooded Germany, whose number has already exceeded a million. In 2017, the Germans will hold parliamentary elections, the result of which will show how the German people evaluate Merkel's policies.
2. Donald Trump
An unexpected result - the first billionaire in office took only second place in the top 10 most influential people of 2016. It seems that some Americans, especially the middle and upper class, traditionally committed to liberal values, are ashamed of their president. True, they prefer to pour out their anger not directly, but on Trump's wife and children. Donald himself promises to completely surrender to presidential affairs, and entrust the management of his entire vast real estate empire to his children.
1. Vladimir Putin
The Russian president has long arms - he reached not only to Syria, but even to the United States! Donald Trump is said to be a protege of the Kremlin, and the alleged Russian election interference scandal has only added heat to the furnace of Cold War fears. Both Putin and Trump, of course, deny their involvement in each other's political affairs, but not everyone believes them.
The annual ranking of the most authoritative American financial and economic magazine Forbes identified 74 people whose actions have an impact on the whole world. Putin has once again consolidated his leadership by topping the list of the most influential people in the world. Recall that the President of the Russian Federation heads the list for 4 years. To compile the list, the editorial board of the magazine analyzed hundreds of candidates around the world and identified world leaders based on four criteria.
TOP 5 most influential people in the world
1. Vladimir Putin
According to the editors, Putin is one of the few world leaders who does what he wants and achieves his goal. Russia, Syria, even the election of an American president - the Russian leader does not go unnoticed, and his actions, one way or another, influence the course of events. Putin's approval rating reaches an all-time high, annually restoring Russian influence abroad.
2. Donald Trump
President-elect of the United States and the first billionaire head, who in a short period managed to have the strongest influence on the political picture of America. Scandal immunity and strong congressional support, along with billions of dollars of financial resources of his own, put Trump in second place in the rankings.
3. Angela Merkel
One of six high-ranking and influential women in the world in the list, taking an honorable third place. Angela Merkel is the Chancellor of Germany and the most powerful backbone of the European Union. She brought her country to the top of the EU, and she herself became the most influential woman politician in the world.
4. Xi Jinping
The Chinese statesman and politician, while world states are busy with domestic political problems, is actively developing a project to spread China's influence to every corner of the planet.
The spiritual leader of more than a billion Catholics and an active peaceful politician completes the top five of world leaders. 
Changes in the rating compared to 2015
The Russian representative and participant in the rating was the billionaire Alisher Usmanov, who managed to climb to the 58th line. The last year of Barack Obama's presidency, as predicted, weakened his influence and shifted him to 48th place in the rankings. According to one of the criteria - own financial flows managed by the candidate - 7th place was taken by the richest man in the world, Bill Gates. King of Saudi Arabia Salman ibn Abdul-Aziz al-Saud, who owns 20% of the world's oil reserves, was considered in the same direction. He was placed in 16th place. The new ranking includes 11 newcomers who were not included in the list before. Theresa May, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, is one of them, ranked 13th. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who previously appeared on the 2011 list, has also joined the newcomers. Today it occupies the 56th position. UN Secretary-General António Guterres, 7 years later, was again included in the list, awarding 36th place. 
Of the influential women, 6th place was awarded to Janet Yellen - Chairman of the Board of Governors of the US Federal Reserve, 25th place - Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde. One of the youngest participants in the ranking, who was on the 10th line, was 32-year-old Mark Zuckerberg, the developer and founder of the social network Facebook. 43rd place was taken by the supreme leader of the DPRK, Kim Jong-un (33 years old). Forbes claims that the "influential" ranking is a subjective list of the world's elite. These are strong personalities who really "rule the world", but their positions may weaken with the advent of more powerful and influential candidates.
1. Angela Merkel
Federal Chancellor, Germany
Age: 61
Location: Berlin, Germany
Family status: Married
For the 11th time, Merkel has taken first place in the annual Forbes ranking of the most powerful women. She is the first female politician in Europe to have been in power for 16 consecutive years. Merkel helped the country cope with a recession during the global crisis and saved the eurozone's weakest link, Greece, from collapse. Even the refugee crisis that erupted in Europe, from which Germany suffered the most, did not shake Merkel's position in the ranking of influential women.
2. Hillary Clinton
US presidential candidate
Age: 68
Placeresidence: Chappaqua, New York
Family status: Married
Children: one Daughter
Clinton came in second for the first time since announcing her 2016 presidential run. Today, she remains the most likely candidate for the Democratic Party. If Clinton becomes the first female president of the United States, this will not be her first major achievement - she is the only first lady to become a senator in the US Congress, a candidate for the presidency of the country, and then secretary of state.
Clinton's memoir Hard Choices, published in 2014, became a bestseller, in the book she talks about her work as US Secretary of State.
Clinton's popularity among voters was shaken only by the scandal with her mail, when Hillary was accused that, as head of the State Department in 2009-2013, she, contrary to the rules, used private e-mail, and not the state one, setting up a personal server at home. Because of this, government letters could be hacked or fall into the hands of foreign intelligence agencies. Clinton publicly acknowledged her mistake.
In 2014, Clinton became a grandmother for the first time: her daughter Chelsea gave birth to a girl, Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky.
3. Janet Yellen
US Federal Reserve Chairman
Age: 69
Placeresidence: Washington
Family status: Married
Janet Yellen becomes the first woman to serve as chairman of the US Federal Reserve.
Yellen opposes the idea of some members of Congress to conduct the first ever comprehensive audit of the Fed. “The independence of the Central Bank in conducting monetary policy is considered the best practice for Central Banks around the world,” retorted the head of the regulator. “Scientific research, I think, has left no doubt that independent central banks perform better.”
Yellen's first term ends in February 2018.
4 Melinda Gates
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Co-Chair
Age: 51
Placeresidence: Medina, Washington
Family status: Married
Children: three
Melinda Gates is one of the world's leading philanthropists. Since the founding of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000, more than $33 billion has been awarded in grants. Gates believes that it is necessary to organize events for the target audience, monitor data and establish global cooperation between countries and foundations. She personally determines the direction of the fund's development and evaluates its effectiveness. Now one of the main issues that her foundation focuses on is the health of women in developing countries, equal rights for women and educational opportunities for women around the world.
By order of the spouses, within 20 years after the death of the last co-founder, all funds must be spent and the foundation will curtail its activities. Gates is now investing $17.5 million to address the crisis with migrants from the Middle East.
Read more about how Melinda Gates became one of the most influential patrons of the world -
5. Mary Barra
General Motors President
Age: 54
Placeresidence: Novi, Michigan
Family status: Married
Children: two
Mary Barra, the first female CEO of the auto giant, has been ranked the fifth most powerful woman by Forbes for the second year in a row. The reason is her success as head of GM. Barra was appointed in January 2014 and endured a very difficult first year: within months of taking office, she was involved in court hearings (the company was accused of killing 74 and injuring 126 people), authorized the recall of 30 million vehicles, and withstood pressure from investors who demanded returning money to shareholders. In October, Barra unveiled the company's strategy for the future, with Cadillac set to become a global luxury brand, with strong emphasis on sales growth in China and technological innovation. Under Barr's leadership, GM gained financial discipline and was not afraid of difficult decisions, such as closing branches in Russia, Australia, Indonesia, or the exit of the Chevrolet brand from Europe due to low profitability. Barra is a 35-year GM veteran who joined the company at age 18 while studying electrical engineering at university.
6. Christine Lagarde
Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund
Age: 60
Placeresidence: Washington DC
Family status: Single
Children: two
First woman to lead a financial institution with 188 member countries. On February 19, 2016, she was re-elected to this post. She spent most of her first years in the job dealing with the financial crisis. Lagarde now predicts a 3.5 percent annual global growth of the world economy. She calls such figures “mediocre indicators” and believes that slow growth is part of the “new reality”.
Lagarde actively defends the rights of working women. “All countries will be able to save money and increase productivity if women have access to the labor market,” the head of the IMF is sure. “It's not just a matter of morality, philosophy or equal opportunity. This is a matter of cause and effect in economics. It doesn't take much intelligence to understand that." Born in France, Lagarde worked as an employment and antitrust lawyer in the United States before becoming French finance minister.
7. Sheryl Sandberg
COO Facebook
Age: 46
Placeresidence: Utterton, California
Family status: widow
Children: two
At Facebook, Sheryl Sandberg is responsible for sales, marketing, business development, people and communications. Under her leadership, the company improved its performance and changed the strategy of working with mobile applications. She became the first woman on the board of directors of the company.
Two years ago, she became the best-selling author of Dare to Take Action, which earned her the support of many famous women. After the release of the book, thousands of followers of Sandberg's philosophy appeared, a sequel, Dare to Take Action - for Graduates, was released, and Sony Pictures obtained consent to shoot a film based on the book. In May 2014, Sandberg became a member of The Giving Pledge, promising to give at least half of her wealth to charity.
In May 2015, Sandberg lost her husband, Dave Goldberg, who ran the online survey service SurveyMonkey.
9. Margaret Whitman
CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Age: 59
Citizenship: USA
Family status: Married
Children: four
At the end of 2015 Whitman headed Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Hewlett-Packard, one of the oldest IT companies in the market with $52 billion in revenue, made a partition on November 1, 2015, for which it had been preparing for more than a year. Since the announcement of the division in October 2014 and until the end of October 2015, the value of HP shares fell by 17%. The corporate business - servers, data centers, network solutions and consulting - was allocated to an independent company Hewlett Packard Enterprise. At the same time, the separated part behaves like the main company. It retains 80% of the headcount, a wide product line from servers and network equipment to corporate software and technical support. Prior to the split, Whitman served as CEO of the entire corporation, and even earlier, from 1998 to 2008, she was the CEO and president of eBay.
10 Ana Patricia Botin
Chairman of the Board of Directors of the financial and credit group Santander
Age: 55
Citizenship: Spain
Family status: Married
Children: three
In 2014, Ana Patricia Botin became one of the most powerful women in the banking industry, leading the largest bank in the Eurozone. She took over as chairman of the board following the death of her father from a heart attack. In recent years, the bank has been criticized for lack of service, so the first thing Botin did was to introduce new programs for clients. Thanks to her efforts, it is now possible to carry out, for example, operations with cryptocurrency in the bank. The situation in Brazil and the UK, where the bank's branches operate, can greatly undermine its position. In May 2016, Botin was quick to reassure clients that the bank would remain in the UK even if the country decided to leave the European Union.
56. Elvira Nabiullina
Chairman of the Central Bank of Russia
Age: 52
Placeresidence: Moscow, Russia
Family status: Married
Children: two
Elvira Nabiullina is included in the ranking of the most influential women in the world for the third time, in 2014 she was in 72nd place, in 2015 - in 71st, in 2016 - in 56th. Nabiullina became the head of the Central Bank in 2013, becoming the first woman in the history of the G8 countries in such a position, in her management was the regulator of the tenth economy in the world with a country's GDP of $1.8 trillion. The end of 2014 and the beginning of 2015 were difficult for Nabiullina, Russia was in the midst of a crisis, and the chairman of the Central Bank had to make a number of difficult decisions. Oil prices fell, followed by the depreciation of the ruble. Sanctions against Russia also played their role. The Central Bank has spent several billion rubles to stabilize the ruble exchange rate, but it is still far from the crisis.
The presidential rating is, of course, a very subjective list compiled by sociologists and political scientists in almost every major country. But still, it reflects the main trends in such a changeable area. Disputes often arise on the basis of which to make such a rating. American presidents, for example, are always judged by polls. One of the objective criteria is the level of wages. The list presented to you estimated the income of the heads of state in 2016.
Francois Hollande
Now the ex-leader of France was in the ranking of presidents in 8th place at the end of last year. He headed one of the largest European countries for 5 years, since 2012.
During his reign, he did a lot to remain in the memory of the people. For example, he approved a bill on same-sex marriages. In addition, he took another step demonstrating European tolerance: he allowed same-sex partners to adopt children. It is worth noting that the expansion of the rights of sexual minorities was one of the main points of the election program of Hollande and his supporters in the party. In this they kept their word.
True, not all Frenchmen agreed with such a policy. Due to the legalization of same-sex marriage, numerous protest rallies and demonstrations took place across the country. This was especially not liked by the right-wing parties that found themselves in opposition, and the Catholic Church.
In the ranking of presidents, the position of the head of France is usually much lower, but by the end of his term, Hollande became an extremely unpopular politician in his homeland. His trust rating has fallen to a record 12%, making him one of the most unpopular French presidents ever. In addition, last year parliament threatened him with impeachment, suspecting him of disclosing state secrets.
Hollande's salary is $194,000.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan
The Turkish leader has been in charge of the country since 2014. The election he won was the first direct democratic vote in that country. 2016 was not an easy year for Erdogan. In the summer, part of the military elite tried to carry out a coup d'état, which was suppressed. After that, Turkey began to tighten laws against the opposition and strengthen presidential power, which was negatively assessed by many partner countries.
The coup attempt was very bloody. The mutiny killed 238 people. Erdogan himself narrowly escaped capture. He left the hotel shortly before they began to storm it.
Erdogan seeks to strengthen his power on all fronts. So, at the moment, 26,000 people are accused of involvement in the coup. Many of them are in prisons, the rest have lost their jobs, as a rule, these are law enforcement officers.
At the moment, a campaign has been launched in the country to return to the criminal code such punishment as the death penalty.
The president's salary is $197,000.
Shinzo Abe
His annual income is $203,000. He has been in charge of the country since 2006. In this post, Abe will be remembered as a politician who began to pursue a peculiar economic policy. He managed to revive the economy, which over the previous two decades had been plagued by stagnation and deflation.
One method was to artificially devalue the yen by doubling the money supply. This method is not new; the leaders of other countries have used it repeatedly. On the one hand, it can be very effective, on the other hand, it can provoke international currency wars, which is what critics of the Japanese prime minister are afraid of.
Theresa May
Rounding out the top five is British Prime Minister Theresa May. She receives $215,000.
For her, 2016 was also a defining year in many ways. In the UK, a nationwide referendum was held, in which the majority of the British voted in favor of leaving the European Union. May supported the previous British prime minister and was opposed to secession from Europe.
However, the Eurosceptics won the vote. Cameron stepped down and May took over. Much is expected of her. First of all, a smooth exit of the country from the eurozone, which will last for more than one year. It should also be noted that May became only the second woman in the history of Great Britain, after which she managed to take this post.
Russian President
It is impossible not to mention the national head of state in this list. Although he ended up in 9th place, receiving $ 136,000 a year.
But in the rating of Russian presidents, Vladimir Putin, of course, is in the lead. Yes, and according to polls of authoritative publications, he has repeatedly been among the most authoritative people on the planet. For several years now.
At the moment, Putin is holding the presidency for the third time. His last term at the moment was marked by serious steps in foreign and domestic policy. In particular, the Crimean peninsula was included in the country, after which a number of foreign countries imposed severe economic sanctions against Russia. In response, Putin decided on retaliatory counter-sanctions, which banned the import of food products from states that wished to impose sanctions.
Jacob Zuma
Such high earnings allowed him to take a very high place in this ranking of world presidents. In South Africa, the head of state is not elected by members of parliament. Zuma received support from MPs in 2009. Since then, he has been in office for the second time. His government pays great attention to economic development and infrastructure construction.
Angela Merkel
She has been Chancellor of Germany since 2005. During this time, she managed to become one of the most authoritative politicians in the European Union.
Justin Trudeau
He headed the state in 2015. He pays great attention to the equality of women. So, in his cabinet of ministers there are exactly 15 men and women each. In addition, the most popular nationalities living in Canada are represented.
Rating leader
The first place in this list at the end of 2016 was taken by the American President Barack Obama. He receives $400,000.
At the same time, in the ranking of US presidents in his history, he occupies a very low position. Many of his decisions have been repeatedly criticized and challenged. So, in the ranking of US presidents in the history of Obama, only 12th place. The leader, by the way, is Abraham Licoln. Obama, who began by winning the Nobel Peace Prize at the very beginning of his term, then disappointed many with his aggressive foreign policy.
Therefore, in the rating of American presidents, he is located so low. Americans value stability and self-confidence first and foremost. Obama, on the other hand, failed to solve the main problem that confronted him - to defeat Islamic terrorism.
At the same time, there were many positive things in his work. That is why in the ranking of US presidents, the list of which in recent years is known to everyone, he bypassed both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.
It is worth noting that the current president of the United States, billionaire Donald Trump, will no longer be able to top this list. He stated that he would work for a symbolic payment of $1.
