SIMFEROPOL, May 26 (RIA Novosti) – Crimean Prime Minister Sergei Aksyonov has topped a ranking of the republic’s 30 most popular politicians with the highest score since recording began, according to Ivan Mezyukho, who heads a regional political communications institute.
“The results of a poll among Crimean experts showed that Crimea’s acting chief and Chairman of the Republican Cabinet, Sergei Aksyonov, has been deemed Crimea’s most influential politician, with 95.06 points on a 100-point scale. This is the highest score in the rating’s history,” Mezyukho told RIA Novosti Monday.
Vladimir Konstantinov, Chairman of the State Council of the Crimean Republic, lagged behind at 93.01 points, while First Deputy Prime Minister Rustam Temirgaliyev came third with 81.15 points.
Among the top ten of Crimea’s most influential high-flyers are Senator Olga Kovitidy (80.07), First Vice Speaker Grigory Ioffe (79.15), Senator Tsetkov (79.12), Information and Mass Communications Minister Dmitry Polonsky (75.42), followed by the Russian president’s plenipotentiary in Crimea Oleg Belaventsev, as well as Vice Premiers Nikolai Yanaki and Sergei Donich.
Bringing up the rear in the top 20 is Refat Chubarov, representative of the Crimean Tatar Majlis, a local ethnic council.
Crimea, which was previously an autonomous republic within Ukraine, refused to recognize the legitimacy of the new government in Kiev that came to power following the February overthrow of President Yanukovych. On March 16, citizens of the republic held a referendum which saw over 96 percent of voters in the region back the motion to secede from Ukraine and join Russia.
Crimea and Sevastopol, which has a special status within the region, became subjects of the Russian Federation on March 21 after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed reunification documents into law.
