Novye Izvestia Rating: the best political technologists of Russia in 2022

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 study was conducted from November 15 to December 7, 2022. Methods - full-time and part-time questioning. 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 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.

Respondents were asked to independently name those specialists whom they could classify as the best in the profession. They also had the opportunity to provide meaningful comments on the proposed candidates. Unfortunately, less than half of the respondents took advantage of this opportunity, mainly those who gave face-to-face interviews. Some of the most typical quotes for the TOP-20 are presented in the table.

The editors of Novye Izvestiya express their gratitude to the leadership of the Russian Association of Political Consultants (RAPC), without whose organizational support we would not have been able to complete the study in such a short time.

Through an expert survey of market participants, we identified the top best specialists in several areas:

- Top 20 federal political technologists

- Top 10 administrative political technologists

- Top 10 Lieutenant Governors for Politics

- Top 10 CG people - customers of the services of political technologists

- Top 10 public experts - commentators on domestic politics

Top 5 political technologists in each of the 9 federal districts (8 existing and new territories). Still in work

In addition, during the survey it turned out that we unfairly forgot one more category - consultants within political parties. Those of them who received high marks in the first category, we moved to a new group - Top 10 party consultants in the house.

Also during the survey, we encountered the fact that a number of specialists received high marks in several groups at once. For example, Sergey Tolmachev, Alexander Seravin and Andrey Klyuzov were highly rated both as political technologists and as vice-governors. However, since at the moment their main place of work is the regional administrations, we left them only in this category. Yevgeny Minchenko, Viktor Poturemsky, Gleb Kuznetsov, Oleg Matveychev had a chance to be represented both among federal political technologists and among experts on domestic politics. In the case of them, we felt it was right to leave them in the category in which they ranked higher.

Our comment:

Obviously, the political technology market in Russia-2022 is a market for large teams that take on the lion's share of large orders. The leaders of these corporate teams are represented in the TOP-20 federal political strategists (Grigory Kazankov, Firdus Aliyev, Konstantin Kostin, Sergey Zverev, Vartan Sarkisov (in tandem with Andrey Gnatyuk), Oleg Karpilov). Often they subcontract teams of their colleagues or individuals.

Another type of participants in the top rating are the leaders of boutique-type teams (Alexey Kurtov, Andrey Maksimov, Petr Bystrov, Rinat Khazeev, Ilya Gambashidze, Yaroslav Ignatovsky, Dmitry Yelovsky).

Team leaders and individual specialists who form a unique selling proposition on the market in one or several segments (Yevgenia Stulova, Grigory Dobromelov, Lev Kharlamov, Daria Kislitsyna), in particular, on the Internet (Andrey Tsepelev, Yevgeny Yatsyuk).

It can be noted that one of the factors influencing political strategists on political processes is their participation in training programs for politicians. In particular, Aleksey Kurtov is known for his systematic work with the personnel reserve of the Presidential Administration. Minchenko Consulting Evgenia Minchenko is proud that 120 out of 450 deputies of the State Duma elected in 2021 have passed through their trainings and promotes their own technology of working with the image of a politician. Firdus Aliyev is responsible for a number of educational programs in the Old Square.

The authority of market participants is also supported by their willingness to take on the social burden and lobby for the interests of the workshop. It is not surprising that most of the top 20 participants are in the leadership of one or even several organizations (RAPK, RASO, Association of Internet Technologists). Although the leadership here is undoubtedly for the RAPC. The top 5 includes two presidents of the RAPC - the current one (Grigory Kazankov) and his predecessor (Aleksey Kurtov), as well as the president of the RASO Yevgeny Minchenko.

A positive factor of recognition and authority among colleagues and consumers of services is the availability of high-quality books on the profession (“Dragon Hunt” by Alexey Kurtov, “Ears Wave the Donkey” by the Baxter Group, the Niccolo M book series, “How the US Elections are Won , Great Britain and the European Union” by Yevgenia Minchenko, “Clean and Dirty Election Technologies” by Andrey Maksimov, “Ten Vertical Steps” by Sergei Tolmachev, “Four Horsemen of the Information Apocalypse” by Yevgenia Stulova).

The main customer and coordinator of the services of political technologists today is the state. Therefore, it is not surprising that many market participants are gradually becoming members of the system themselves, and the best ones at that. Of the top 10 vice-governors for politics, four (Sergey Tolmachev, Andrey Kolyadin, Alexander Seravin, Andrey Klyuzov) previously worked in the political technologies market.

It is also worth noting the trend of shifting market participants to the status of party political technologists, often complete with the status of a State Duma deputy (Dmitry Gusev, Stanislav Naumov).

And someone himself becomes a customer for political technology services from corporations (Andrey Polosin, Sergey Mikhailov, Maria Sergeyeva) or the state (Leonid Levin, Alexey Zharich)

If we comment on the rating of in-demand experts on domestic politics, then, in our opinion, most of them are distinguished by objectivity, calm expert intonation, distancing themselves from narrow party interests, and possession of unique information. Not surprisingly, the top 3 experts included two sociologists-analysts (Viktor Poturemsky and Valery Fyodorov).

According to the representation of employees and people from companies in various categories of the Political Technologists Rating, the leaders are the Expert Institute for Social Research (EISI), Baxter Group, Minchenko Consulting, ANO Dialog.

Top 20 federal political technologists

1. Grigory Kazankov , President of the Russian Association of Political Consultants (RAPK)

2. Evgeny Minchenko , President of the Russian Association for Public Relations (RASO), President of the Minchenko Consulting holding. Director of the Center for Studies of Political Elites of the IMI MGIMO (U) of Russia

3. Firdus Aliyev , Managing Director of ANO "Expert Institute for Social Research" for interaction with the expert community

4. Alexey Kurtov , second president of the RAPC, chairman of the board of directors of the InterMediaCom agency

5. Konstantin Kostin , President of the Civil Society Development Foundation (FORGO)

6. Andrey Maksimov , vice-president of the RAPK, head of the Maksimov Consulting agency

7.Sergey Zverev , President of KROS, Head of the Integrated Communications Department of the Higher School of Economics

8. Petr Bystrov , vice-president of the RAPC

9.Vartan Sarkisov , CEO of the IMA group

10.Oleg Karpilov , CEO of the Polylog agency

11. Evgenia Stulova , Executive Director of Minchenko Consulting, Chairman of the Political Technologies Committee of the RASO

12. Andrey Tsepelev , Deputy General Director of ANO Dialog, President of the Association of Internet Technologists

13. Grigory Dobromelov , Head of the State Consulting Department

14. Lev Kharlamov , image and political strategy expert

15. Rinat Khazeev , partner of Baxter Group

16. Evgeny Yatsyuk , Internet technologist

17. Ilya Gambashidze , political strategist

18. Yaroslav Ignatovsky , director of the analytical center "PolitGen"

19. Daria Kislitsyna , Director of Regional Programs Department, EISI

20. Dmitry Elovsky , General Director of the Agency "Actor"

Also mentioned ( hereinafter in descending order of frequency of mentions, the cutoff by the number of mentions is at least 3 ):

• Dmitry Denisov
• Andrey Gnatyuk
• Kirill Istomin
• Ilya Shchegolikhin
• Alexey Schweigert
• Oleg Molchanov
• Roman Smirnov
• Marina Kostycheva
• Valentin Bianchi
• Alexander Malkevich
• Vladimir Kudashov
• Sergey Tarasyants
• Svetlana Zamaratskaya
• Lev Pavlyuchkov
• Ilya Mitkin (Spokoinov)
• Andrey Ponomarev
• Tatyana Lushnikova
• Pavel Timofeev
• Petr Korolyov
• Alexander Nazarov
• Evgenia Pasternak
• Ruslan Polushkin
• Dmitry Bessonov
• Sergei Rumyantsev
• Igor Mintusov
• Pavel Dubravsky
• Ilya Grashchenkov
• Margarita Volkhina
• Stanislav Krutyansky
• Artem Rechitsky
• Valery Chebekov
• Dmitry Zinoviev
• Julia Mileshkina
• Anton Kholodov
• Andrey Cheshov
• Anton Sadkin
• Sergei Belokonev
• Sergey Grigoriev
• Ilya Paimushkin
• Mikhail Kovalev

Top 10 Party Political Technologists

1. Sergey Perminov , EP

2. Dmitry Gusev , SRZP

3. Alexander Sidyakin , EP

4.Yaroslav Nilov , LDPR

5. Sergey Obukhov , Communist Party of the Russian Federation

6.Roman Romanov , EP

7.Stanislav Naumov , LDPR

8. Ruslan Modin , "New people"

9. Alexander Mikhalchuk , Communist Party of the Russian Federation

10. Andrey Bogdanov , pool of "Bogdanov's games"

Also mentioned were:

• Daria Lantratova, ER
• Airat Akhmetzyanov, "New People"
• Andrey Parfenov, ER
• Oleg Zakharov, "New people"

Top 10 Administrative Political Technologists

Naturally, the representatives of the authorities listed in this nomination are not political technologists as such. Rather, these are the people that politicians and political strategists encounter during election campaigns and who, by virtue of their position, oversee the implementation of the President's policy in electoral processes, and also influence the formation of personnel reserves at the federal level and in the regions. Most of the rating participants are included in the vertical of Sergei Kiriyenko. The presence in this category of Leonid Levin, who is responsible for the information work of the White House, is also logical, which also cannot but influence the electoral results.

1.Sergey Kiriyenko , First Deputy Head of the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation

2. Alexander Kharichev , head of the Office of the President of the Russian Federation for ensuring the activities of the State Council

3.Leonid Levin , Deputy Chief of Staff of the Government of the Russian Federation

4. Andrey Yarin , Head of the Office of the President of the Russian Federation for Domestic Policy

5.Boris Rapoport , Deputy Head of the Office of the President of the Russian Federation for ensuring the activities of the State Council

6. Sergey Novikov , Head of the Office of the President of the Russian Federation for Public Projects

7. Aleksey Zharich , Deputy Head of the Office of the President of the Russian Federation for Public Projects

8.Vladimir Tabak , General Director of ANO "Dialogue"

9. Lyubov Sovershaeva , Deputy Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Northwestern Federal District

10. Aleksey Semenov , referent of the Office of the President of the Russian Federation for ensuring the activities of the State Council

Also mentioned:

• Yaroslav Zamychkin
• Vyacheslav Smirnov
• Grigory Kuranov
• Sergei Starikov
• Igor Burenkov

• Marina Kirdakova

Top 10 Lieutenant Governors for Politics

1. Sergey Tolmachev, Sevastopol

2.Olga Medvedeva, Belgorod region

3.Sergey Ponomarenko, Krasnoyarsk Territory

4.Natalia Sergunina, Moscow

5. Anatoly Vekshin, Chelyabinsk region

6. Alexander Kostomarov, Donetsk region

7. Pavel Yasevich, Kamchatka Territory

8. Alexander Seravin, Pskov region

9. Andrey Kolyadin, Yaroslavl region

10. Andrey Klyuzov, Novosibirsk region

Also mentioned:

• Oleg Chemezov, Sverdlovsk Region
• Sergey Baidakov, Sakhalin Region
• Sergey Klimentiev, YNAO
• Anton Voloshko, Primorsky Krai
• Karina Bashkatova, Kaluga Region
• Ruslan Mukharlyamov, Tatarstan
• Igor Babkin, Stavropol Territory
• Andrey Gneushev, Nizhny Novgorod Region
• Evgeny Bogomazov, Vologda region
• Alexey Shipilov, Yugra
• Pavel Belyavsky, Tyumen region
• Vadim Sokolov, Oryol region
• Andrey Bunev, Irkutsk Region
• Ivan Bogdanov, Kostroma region
• Igor Shkolnikov, Novgorod region
• Maria Kostyuk, JAO
• Bair Tsyrenov, Buryatia
• Andrey Bloshchinsky, NAO
• Igor Sukharev, Orenburg region
• Anton Ageev, Tula region
• Oleg Zaremba, Omsk region

Top 10 Giarschikov - customers of the services of political technologists

1. Andrey Polosin , Director of the Department for Cooperation with the Regions of the Rosatom Corporation

2. Andrey Grachev , Vice President of MMC Norilsk Nickel

3.Mikhail Leontiev , Vice President of Rosneft PJSC

4. Sergey Mikhailov , General Director of TASS

5. Margarita Simonyan , General Director of MIA "Russia Today"

6.Sergey Zhuravlev , Vice President for Government Relations, Polyus PJSC

7.Viktor Konopatsky , director for work with federal and regional government bodies, En + Holding

8.Vasily Brovko , Director for Special Assignments of the Rostec State Corporation

9.Vladimir Slavutsky , Vice President for Public Relations of the Ilim Group

10. Alexey Sherlygin , Vice President for Government Affairs, Segezha Group

Also mentioned:

• Maria Sergeeva, En+ Holding
• Maria Dronova, Evraz
• Denis Solovyov, Novatek
• Rodion Andrianov, Uralchem

Top 10 public experts - domestic policy commentators

1.Viktor Poturemsky , Director of Political Analysis, Institute for Social Marketing (INSOMAR)

2.Aleksey Chesnakov , director of the Center for Political Conjuncture in Russia (TsPKR)

3.Valery Fedorov , General Director of the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM).

4. Gleb Kuznetsov , Head of the Expert Council of the Expert Institute for Social Research (EISI)

5. Sergey Starovoitov , General Director of the federal expert network "Club of Regions"

6.Mikhail Vinogradov , General Director of the Petersburg Politics Foundation

7.Boris Makarenko , President of the Center for Political Technologies Foundation

8. Oleg Matveychev , deputy of the State Duma

9. Marat Bashirov, author of the Politjoystick Telegram channel

10. Igor Mintusov , Chairman of the Board of Directors of the first Russian PR company "Nikkolo M", the first president of the RAPC

Also mentioned:

• Alexander Kynev
• Fedor Lukyanov
• Pavel Danilin
• Konstantin Kalachev
• Alexander Malkevich
• Alexey Chadaev
• Alexander Asafov
• Sergey Markov
• Ilya Grashchenkov
• Dmitry Orlov
• Sergey Mikheev
• Dmitry Solonnikov
• Sergey Grigoriev
• Vladimir Lubyanko
• Alexey Mukhin

Attachment 1.

Respondents' comments on the top 20 federal political technologists

(the only category where there are comments for each participant)

In conclusion.

Unfortunately, we were unable to collect a sufficient number of answers in the category "Top 5 political technologists in each of the 9 federal districts (8 existing and new territories)".

Therefore, we are extending the survey for this category until December 18. The results will be published on December 19, 2022.

A number of respondents expressed the opinion that a separate rating of electoral lawyers is needed. We will consider this issue next year, as we plan to make the rating "The Best Political Technologists of Russia" regular.