Prime minister Putin: niet votes
What is the Russian for public intellectual? Fashionable website openSpace.ru is finding out, writes Susan Richards, with a version of Prospect’s own big brain competition. No orchestrated hijacking of the public vote has yet occurred—perhaps because the Kremlin is far too canny to stick its nose in. As a result, Putin has won almost no votes, while the man behind his “sovereign democracy” concept, Vladislav Surkov, has netted just 1 per cent. Results so far reflect the nation’s new diversity, with Viktor Pelevin—fantastical satirical novelist of the post-Soviet era—leading; pursued by youthful (yet banal) blogger Danil Shepovalov. Bunching in third are the head of Russia’s Orthodox Church, imprisoned ex-oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and a prominent ultra-nationalist media oddball, Konstantin Krylov. The winner will be announced on 21st December.
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