KIEV, August 18 (Itar-Tass) —— Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich has topped the list of the country’s 100 most influential people, said Vitaly Sych, the editor-in-chief of the Correspondent magazine, which makes such ratings annually.
According to Sych, this is the third time that Yanukovich tops Ukraine’s Top-100 rating of influential people. “One and the same person has never before topped the rating three times,” he told journalists on Thursday. “Since fir first days in office, Yanukovich has been building a strict presidential vertical and has succeeded in it leaving the Correspondent no choice.”
Next comes a new person in the list, lawmaker with the Party of Regions Yuri Ivanyushchenko. Sergei Levochkin, the presidential chief of staff, is ranked third, as he was in 2010. The list of top five also features billionaire Rinat Akhmetov and Prime Minister Nikolai Azarov.
The country’s former prime minister Yulia Timoshenko is ranked tenths, while former president Viktor Yushchenko is outside the list of 100 most influential people in the country.
In 2003 and 2004, the rating was topped by the then President Leonid Kuchma, in 2005 – by Viktor Yushchenko, in 2006 – by Rinat Akhmetov, in 2007 and 2010 – by Viktor Yanukovich, and in 2008 and 2009 – by Yulia Timoshenko.