Putin, Shoigu, Medvedev Named Most Trusted Politicians in Russia - Poll

President Vladimir Putin, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev are considered to be the most trusted Russian politicians by their compatriots, a Moscow-based non-governmental polling organization Levada-Center revealed Thursday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Putin's public approval rating reached 87 percent in July, a poll conducted by Levada-Center showed.

In the same poll, 59 percent of respondents said they approve of the country’s current political course.

The Levada-Center survey was conducted between July 17 and 20, with 1,600 people from 46 Russian regions participating in the poll.

In December 2014, Putin was named Person of the Year in two separate surveys, one conducted by the Levada-Center and the second — by another Russian polling agency, the Public Opinion Foundation.

In November 2014, Forbes magazine named the Russian president the world's most powerful person. Putin was also ranked third in Time magazine's Person of the Year 2014 list.