The best political technologists of Russia in 2022: regions

The list of "The Best Political Technologists of the Country" was formed on the basis of the opinions of experts - participants and customers of the political consulting market, who were asked to name the best in six categories.

The first stage of the study was conducted from November 15 to December 7, 2022. Methods - full-time and part-time questioning. Questionnaires were sent to the base of political strategists and customers of political consultants, available to the editors, and were also posted on the official Telegram channel of the Russian Association of Political Consultants (RAPC) and in the closed group of the Political Technologies Committee of the Russian Association for Public Relations (RAPR).

Verification of market participants took place on the principle of membership in the RAPC and RAPR, as well as in thematic groups in social networks.

A total of 226 questionnaires were collected. 14 questionnaires received by mail or through a Google form could not be verified as belonging to specialists or clients in the field of political consulting, and they were rejected. Therefore, the final sample of the first stage consisted of 212 profiles of specialists working in the market of professional services in the field of political consulting, as well as full-time political technologists of parties and customers of political consultants' services in party, state and commercial structures.

At the second stage, from December 8 to 19, 124 more questionnaires were collected, 5 of them were rejected. In total, we received 331 relevant questionnaires, which seems to be quite sufficient.

Immediately make a reservation - the range of opinions was very large. And a number of leaders in their regions have already entered the tops of one category or another at the federal level.

In particular, Andrey Klyuzov and Alexander Seravin, respectively, became the leaders of voting in the Siberian and Northwestern Federal Districts, who have already entered the top 10 in another category - the best vice-governors for domestic policy - in the Novosibirsk and Pskov regions. And in the "new territories" the first and second places were taken by the vice-governors for domestic policy of Sevastopol and the Donetsk Republic - Sergey Tolmachev and Alexander Kostomarov, who participated in referendum campaigns in the Zaporozhye region and the Donetsk Republic. The second in the Northwestern Federal District was Petr Bystrov, who is already on the list of federal political technologists. Also high positions in the regional tops were taken by Andrey Maksimov and Yaroslav Ignatovsky (CFD), Daria Kislitsyna (FEFD), Dmitry Elovsky (SFD), Rinat Khazeev (UrFD).

Naturally, since these specialists are already in the federal part of the rating, we did not duplicate them at the regional level.

An interesting anomaly was the Far Eastern Federal District - in most questionnaires, the candidate for the position of political strategist number 1 in the district was Grigory Kuranov, Deputy Plenipotentiary Representative of the President. Despite the fact that formally Grigory Vladimirovich has been working in the civil service for a long time and has nothing to do with political technology practice, apparently, many consultants perceive him as a person who speaks the same language with them.

We also encountered some difficulties in the preparation of the results. Sometimes, even in the top 5 in each federal district, we were unable to find a formal place of work for the participants. And, probably, it would be strange to write “political strategist” after each surname separated by a comma, if we are talking about political strategists. Also, unfortunately, we did not receive a detailed commentary on each participant in the rating. What is there to say? -did not receive on most of them)

Therefore, in the lists, we limited ourselves to only the first and last names. The rating participants are listed in descending order of mentions. The cut-off line is more than three mentions by colleagues.

A number of political technologists who do not have a strict territorial reference were included in several lists at once. We have kept them all.

The largest number of recognizable political technologists was in the Central (56) and Siberian (49) federal districts.

The average number of specialists was found in five counties:

Volga Federal District - 36, Ural Federal District - 34, Far Eastern Federal District - 32, Southern Federal District - 29, Northwestern Federal District - 27.

Political technologists are not popular in the North Caucasus (13 in total), and Igor Sopov, who no longer works in the region, is in the top 10, but heads the election commission of the Pskov region. In the new territories, there were no applicants even for the top 10 - the market for political technologies has yet to develop there.

In general, we can agree with the assessment of one of the experts that our rating has become a "reputation rating". For example, Kirill Istomin, First Deputy General Director of ANO Dialog Regions, took the first place among political technologists of the Ural Federal District. His activities have long reached the federal level, but he is still well remembered and respected in the Urals.

In conclusion, the editors want to emphasize that this is only the first approach to the projectile. We are grateful for any kind criticism and recommendations. We plan to make the rating of "the best political technologists in Russia" an annual one. We are sure that in 2023, with the help of our readers and the professional community, it will become even more representative and objective.

Central Federal District

Top 10:

Alexander Asafov

Anton Sadkin

Sergey Tarasyants

Andrey Ischenko

Igor Kopylov

Anton Timchenko

Alina Vochkova

Denis Ogai

Anastasia Kostikova

Konstantin Listratov

Also mentioned (more than 3 mentions):

Vitaly Gorichev

Mikhail Krasulin

Igor Dachenkov

Vyacheslav Belyakov

Ilya Zenov

Ilya Grashchenkov

Alena August

Tatiana Romanova

Fedor Shchepetov

Yuri Dmitriev

Mark Nepsha

Airat Akhmetzyanov

Peter Miloserdov

Pavel Dubravsky

Pavel Zarubin

Alexey Chernyaev

Yuriy Boyko

Mikhail Shumakov

Denis Mikhulya

Artyom Pavlenko

Igor Reznikov

Anton Lyskov

Sergey Grigoriev

Sergei Markelov

Oleg Bondarenko

Artyom Pronyushkin

Alexey Ilika

Svetlana Zemtseva

Mikhail Baraev

Maya Zinina

Vitaly Danilenko

Natalia Pyaive

Vitaly Isakov

Kirill Kotov

Maxim Syanov

Maxim Trofimovsky

Natalya Ermakova

Vladimir Ryabinin

Alexander Kilin

Julia Dolenko

Konstantin Meshcheryakov

Konstantin Perkin

Stanislav Ryabov

Sergey Belokonev

Northwestern Federal District

TOP 10:

Valentin Bianchi

Lev Pavlyuchkov

Alexey Vysotsky

Petr Bychkov

Inga Burikova

Anton Kholodov

Alexey Baturin

Alena August

Pavel Dubravsky

Sergey Grigoriev

Also mentioned (more than 3 mentions):

Mikhail Kagan

Andrey Finogenov

Sergey Karpov

Ruslan Polushkin

Mark Nepsha

Sergei Ponomarev

Maria Pushkina

Oleg Zakharyash

Maxim Mineev

Andrey Rynda

Ilya Olkhovatsky

Alexandra Voloshchuk

Alexey Mogilyansky

Alexey Pokataev

Julia Mileshkina

Vladislav Elfimov

Maxim Sokolov

Southern Federal District

TOP 10:

Sergei Smirnov

Nikolai Petropavlovsky

Stanislav Krutyansky

Alexey Shevchenko

Roman Bazikov

Alexander Korolev

Alexander Nazarov

Yuri Shevchenko

Alexander Topchaev

Araltan Bambyshev

Also mentioned (more than 3 mentions):

Dmitry Polonsky

Mikhail Rogovenko

Svetlana Manankina

Oleg Pakholkov

Dmitry Bessonov

Ilya Shchegolikhin

Alisa Shabaeva

Denis Mikhulya

Leonid Zosimenko

Sergey Evteev

Tatyana Moskaleva

Ruslan Tkachenko

Andrey Kurilkin

Igor Belyakov

Natalya Zemtsova

Artur Khachaturyan

Ilya Shkurin

Denis Plakushchev

Andrey Cheshov

North Caucasian Federal District

TOP 10:

Andrey Prilatov

Anton Isaev

Artur Nasonov

Marat Edzoev

Alexey Bataev

Igor Sopov

Airat Akhmetzyanov

Alisa Shabaeva

Dmitry Satalkin

Vyacheslav Zikeev

Also mentioned (more than 3 mentions):

Igor Sidelnikov

Alexander Tikhov

Alexey Mogilyansky

Volga Federal District

TOP 10:

Sergey Kudlay

Vera Leonova

Vladimir Andreev

Julia Trofimovskaya (Bachikalo)

Vladimir Kudashov

Anton Kholodov

Sergey Troshkov

Fedor Shchepetov

Ekaterina Nabatova

Vasily Smerdov

Also mentioned (more than 3 mentions):

Evgeny Zelinsky

Maxim Zakharov

Alexander Saigin

Sergey Arsenichev

Sergei Dunaev

Igor Pankratov

Airat Akhmetzyanov

Dmitry Ryletsky

Yaroslav Muraviev

Tatiana Romanova

Ilya Olkhovatsky

Lev Usoltsev

Ilya Shchegolikhin

Ksenia Krestovskaya

Valery Dunaev

Natalya Ermakova

Andrey Godnev

Polina Malakhova

Dmitry Mikryukov

Alena Larkina

Alexey Vanin

Vladimir Ryabinin

Andrey Tkachenko

Shamil Rak

Alexander Belousov

Alexey Gavrilov

Ural federal district

TOP 10:

Kirill Istomin

Sergey Sarychev

Alexey Schweigert

Konstantin Kiselev

Aksana Panova

Sergey Moshkin

Alexander Pirogov

Olga Shvetsova

Denis Alyoshin

Valentina Ermakova

Also mentioned (more than 3 mentions):

Alexander Melnikov

Alexander Pavlik

Victoria Gerasimyuk

Alexander Belousov

Platon Mamatov

Georgy Gavrilov

Ivan Uralov

Nikolai Sandakov

Alexey Dedyukhin

Gulnara Androsova

Ivan Matveev

Denis Mikhulya

Roman Klim

Ekaterina Kuzemka

Alexander Lacedaemon

Andrey Lavrov

Andrey Bondarev

Vladimir Dmitriev

Sergey Zubanov

Georgy Gavrilov

Andrey Tkachenko

Mikhail Friben (posthumously)

Sergey Nasledkov

Alexey Knyazev

Siberian Federal District

TOP 10:

Valery Smorodnikov

Maria Sergeeva

Vladimir Titenkov

Michael Haluga

Mikhail Palchik

Svetlana Zamaratskaya

Pavel Timofeev

Dmitry Denisov

Artem Rechitsky

Sergey Veprentsev

Also mentioned (more than 3 mentions):

Olga Borovskaya

Vladimir Kurkov

Ilya Shchegolikhin

Maxim Kudryavtsev

Sergei Nadtochiy

Darina Goryacheva

Oleg Zaremba

Alexey Kozyura

Lev Usoltsev

Evgeny Zambrzhitsky

Pavel Leshchev

Nikolai Yukhanov

Nina Soshina

Andrey Pshenitsyn

Vyacheslav Shindyaev

Konstantin Listratov

Andrei Ravdonikas

Dmitry Tretyakov

Roman Perikov

Andrey Butyugov

Victor Borisov

Ivan Zhukov

Davyd Gubar

Alexander Rakhmanov

Viktor Kozodoy

Ilya Olkhovatsky

Vladimir Ilyin

Igor Kuznetsov

Artyom Kudryavtsev

Alexander Pushkarev

Anton Dubovoy

Igor Atyakshev

Artem Kuprienko

Olga Molteninova

Rosa Abdulina

Boris Elshin

Alexey Mirzoev

Vladimir Shobodoev

Alexander Chukin

Far Eastern Federal District

TOP 10:

Andrey Ponomarev

Daniil Ermilov

Ilya Mitkin (Spokoinov)

Alexey Vasiliev

Roman Molojon

Denis Shilnikov

Sergey Nasledkov

Alexander Shemelev

Nikolai Sidorov

Evgenia Pasternak

Also mentioned (more than 3 mentions:

Vasily Desyatkin

Alexander Danilov

Nikolay Namsaraev

Pavel Beregovoy

Evgeny Butyrin

Dmitry Satalkin

Vyacheslav Belyakov

Pavel Nalivaiko

Nikolai Yukhanov

Dmitry Nesterov

Boris Emikh

Anton Vollert

Andrey Khlebnikov

Christina Nikiforova

Marina Kim

Michael Haluga

Tatiana Zambrodskaya (Kushnirenko)

Andrey Trivailo

Anatoly Bui

Maxim Cameko

Konstantin Naumov

Vasily Marchenko

New territories:

Dmitry Chaika

Evgeny Kuptsov

Igor Reznikov

Alexander Malkevich

Maxim Shugaley

Sergey Dmitriev

Valery Dunaev

Andrey Trivailo

Marat Mullagulov

See the "NI" rating of the best political technologists in Russia in 2022 here.