APEC: Vladimir Volkov strengthened his political influence
In April the Agency of Political and Economic Communications (APEC) made the rating of influence of heads of the Russian regions. According to the rating, Head of the Republic of Mordovia Vladimir Volkov is up for one position and now ranked 27. Thus, he entered the group of regional heads with strong influence, which includes governors ranked 21st to 50th.
Dmitry Orlov, the Director General of APEC, pointed out that strengthening positions of the executive heads of regions, who are preparing for their elections in September 2017, is the trend of this month. At the same time, governors of the regions where intra-elite confrontations and protest activity had increased, lost their positions. Top three leaders remained unchanged. They are the mayor of Moscow Sergei Sobyanin (1st), Head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov (2nd) and Head of the Tatar Republic Rustam Minikhanov (3d).
The rating of influence of heads of the Russian regions is based on the expert poll. In April, 2017 in the poll there participated 26 experts: political analysts, strategists, journalists and media experts.