Navalny Makes Time Magazine List of World's 100 Most Influential People
Moscow Times - themoscowtimes.com - 4.19.12 - JRL 2012-72
Opposition leader and anti-corruption blogger Alexei Navalny was the only Russian named by Time magazine as one of the world's 100 most influential figures in a list published Wednesday.
file photoNavalny has risen to prominence as one of the leaders of a burgeoning opposition movement that has gathered strength following mass protests over alleged vote fraud in December's State Duma elections.
Writing about Navalny in the Time article, fellow opposition figure and world chess champion Garry Kasparov stressed Navalny's use of the Internet to gain supporters.
"Navalny has mastered the blogging and social networks that the opposition depends on since we are banned from the mainstream media," Kasparov wrote.
Neither President-elect Vladimir Putin nor President Dmitry Medvedev appeared on the list. Putin was Time's 2007 person of the year.
Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Kommersant-FM that the president-elect's not being on the list was "a mistake."
"It is, of course, a mistake - I just don't know what criteria they were guided by," Peskov said. "In this case, I'll say this: [Putin's] authority within the country is well-known, it was confirmed electorally just recently, and Putin's international authority is also in no need of confirmation."
Other international grassroots activists on the Time list include Saudi women's activist Manal al-Sharif and American immigration rights activist Dulce Matuz. Also included are U.S. President Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, as well as prominent musicians, athletes and business people.
Keywords: Russia, Politics - Russia, Media, Internet, Bloggers - Russian News - Russia
Opposition leader and anti-corruption blogger Alexei Navalny was the only Russian named by Time magazine as one of the world's 100 most influential figures in a list published Wednesday.
file photoNavalny has risen to prominence as one of the leaders of a burgeoning opposition movement that has gathered strength following mass protests over alleged vote fraud in December's State Duma elections.
Writing about Navalny in the Time article, fellow opposition figure and world chess champion Garry Kasparov stressed Navalny's use of the Internet to gain supporters.
"Navalny has mastered the blogging and social networks that the opposition depends on since we are banned from the mainstream media," Kasparov wrote.
Neither President-elect Vladimir Putin nor President Dmitry Medvedev appeared on the list. Putin was Time's 2007 person of the year.
Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Kommersant-FM that the president-elect's not being on the list was "a mistake."
"It is, of course, a mistake - I just don't know what criteria they were guided by," Peskov said. "In this case, I'll say this: [Putin's] authority within the country is well-known, it was confirmed electorally just recently, and Putin's international authority is also in no need of confirmation."
Other international grassroots activists on the Time list include Saudi women's activist Manal al-Sharif and American immigration rights activist Dulce Matuz. Also included are U.S. President Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, as well as prominent musicians, athletes and business people.