A war in the centre of Europe became the most-talked about topic of the year so far and the leaders of the two nations – Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky – made it to the TIME’s list of 100 most influential people.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin found mentions among TIME magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the category of political leaders. Amid the ongoing war between the two countries, the addition of the two most-talked about leaders of the year so far on the list is no surprise.
The TIME100 list is divided into six categories – Icons, Pioneers, Titans, Artists, Leaders and Innovators. But in the words of the Editor-in-Chief and CEO of TIME, Edward Felsenthal, it is prepared on one simple barometer and that is ‘influence’.
“Who shaped the year? Who stood up? Who stood out?” he writes.
“Influence, of course, may be for good or for ill — a dichotomy never more visible than in this year’s TIME100, which includes both Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky. They are the poles of this list, and of this moment. The Russian dictator behind a brutal war, and his foe, the Ukrainian President, whose leadership has made him a rare heroic figure in our divisive time,” Felsenthal writes.
What’s interesting about the two leaders on the list is their description.
For Zelensky, the tribute is written by none other than US President Joe Biden, who is himself on the list. Biden writes, “In President Zelensky, the people of Ukraine have a leader worthy of their bravery and resilience, as citizens across the country fight for their homes and their freedom.
“The nations of the free world, inspired by the example of President Zelensky, are more united, more determined, and more purposeful than at any point in recent memory.”
For Russian president Putin, however, the choice is an unusual one. Putin’s write-up is done by his critic, the jailed Russian opposition leader, Alexei Navalny.
He writes, “Putin has reminded us all of the “duck test”: if something looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.”
“The very same logic should be applied in this case: if someone destroys the independent media, organizes political assassinations, and sticks to his imperial delusions, then he is a madman capable of causing a bloodbath in the center of Europe in the 21st century,” he writes further.
Navalny is currently serving nine years in a maximum-security corrective labour colony near Moscow.
Apart from the two world leaders, The TIME100 Most Influential list includes US President Joe Biden, Chinese President Xi Jinping, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, tennis icon Rafael Nadal, Apple CEO Tim Cook and media mogul Oprah Winfrey.
From India, the list includes Supreme Court lawyer Karuna Nundy, business tycoon Gautam Adani and prominent Kashmiri human rights activist Khurram Parvez.
