Name of Russia (Russia TV)

Russian limited television series

For the name of the country, see Russia (name).

Name of Russia (Russian: Имя Россия, romanized: Imya Rossiya) was a series produced by the Russia-1 television channel that aimed to determine the most notable figure in Russian history through polling promoted via the Internet, Radio, and Television. Various professors, artists, and politicians would present information on the historical figure they were 'promoting', and people could then vote online for their chosen figure.

From the outset, the project received heavy criticism for many reasons. The information pages on the project website that linked to every personality (named dossier pages by project creators) were inaccurately named and filled with trivial and inconsistent details. Internet news agency Lenta.ru highlighted this and explained how ridiculous some of the mistakes were. The final list of 50 candidates also drew widespread criticism due to the inclusion of individuals without Russian ethnicity, such as the Georgian Joseph Stalin and Polish Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky.[1] Since brigading was allowed and no precautions against botting were taken, the voting was wildly inaccurate, with some candidates rising from the bottom of the list to the top in a matter of hours. On 14 August, new voting rules were introduced that included the use of challenge–response authentication in the form of a multiple-choice question. According to the project's management, this new measure was aimed to curb the 'war of machines' or computer-generated voting.

In his book Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible: The Surreal Heart of the New Russia, author Peter Pomerantsev (working as a consultant for the Russian television industry at the time) claims the actual winner of the contest was Joseph Stalin, rather than Alexander Nevsky, and that the "embarrassed" producers had to rig the vote in favor of Nevsky.[2]

## Candidates and results

[edit]

The twelve candidates for greatest Russian were:[3]

Final
position  | Candidate  | Date of
birth  | Date of
death  | Promoter  | Airdate

|
|
|
|
|

1  | Alexander Nevsky, Grand prince of Novgorod and Vladimir  | 1220  | 1263  | Mitropolit Kirill | 5 October 2008
2  | Pyotr Stolypin, prime minister of the Russian Empire  | 1862  | 1911  | Film-director Nikita Mikhalkov | 21 December 2008
3  | Joseph Stalin, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and Generalissimo during World War II  | 1878  | 1953  | General of the army Valentin Varennikov | 19 October 2008
4  | Alexander Pushkin, writer and poet  | 1799  | 1837  | Pushkinist and Soviet dissident Yuriy Kublanovskiy | 17 December 2008
5  | Peter the Great, first Emperor of Russia | 1672  | 1725  | RF Ambassador to Ukraine Viktor Chernomyrdin | 12 October 2008
6  | Vladimir Lenin, the revolutionary founder of the Soviet Union | 1870  | 1924  | CPRF general secretary Gennady Zyuganov | 23 November 2008
7  | Fyodor Dostoyevsky, writer  | 1821  | 1881  | RF Ambassador in NATO Dmitriy Rogozin | 9 November 2008
8  | Alexander Suvorov, general of the Russian Imperial Army | 1729  | 1800  | Federation Council of Russia speaker Sergey Mironov | 2 November 2008
9  | Dmitri Mendeleev, chemist who invented the periodic table | 1834  | 1907  | Professor, vice-president RAES Sergei Kapitsa | 26 October 2008
10  | Ivan the Terrible, tsar | 1530  | 1584  | Painter Ilya Glazunov | 14 December 2008
11  | Catherine the Great, empress | 1729  | 1796  | Governor of Krasnodar Krai Aleksandr Tkachyov | 16 November 2008
12  | Alexander II, emperor who abolished serfdom in Russia | 1818  | 1881  | Director of RAS Russian history institute Andrey Sakharov | 30 November 2008

## See also

[edit]

* Greatest Britons spin-offs

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Pomerantsev, Peter (2014). Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible: The Surreal Heart of the New Russia. Public Affairs. pp. 111–112\. ISBN 978-1-61039-600-4.
2. ^ Pomerantsev, Peter (2014). Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible: The Surreal Heart of the New Russia. Public Affairs. pp. 111–112\. ISBN 978-1-61039-600-4.
3. ^ "Имя Россия / Новости // Избран Совет "Имя Россия"". Archived from the original on 15 October 2008. Retrieved 24 October 2008.

## External links

[edit]

* Official site of 'Name of Russia' project Archived 30 June 2021 at the Wayback Machine
* Running results Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
* 'Names of Russia' alternative project
* Running results
* 'Unnamed Russia' project Archived 5 August 2008 at the Wayback Machine
* Greatest Russian? Czar Nicholas leads vote

* v
* t
* e

Countries' greatest people TV series and media polls

* Argentina: El Gen Argentino
* Bangladesh / India: Greatest Bengali of all time
* Belgium: De Grootste Belg / Les plus grands Belges
* Brazil: O Maior Brasileiro de Todos os Tempos
* Bulgaria: Velikite Balgari
* Canada: The Greatest Canadian
* Catalonia: El Favorit
* Chile: Grandes Chilenos de Nuestra Historia
* Croatia: Greatest Croatian
* Czech Republic: Největší Čech
* Estonia: 100 great Estonians of the 20th century
* Finland: Suuret suomalaiset
* France: The Greatest Frenchman
* Germany: Unsere Besten
* Greece: Great Greeks
* India: The Greatest Indian
* Ireland: Ireland's Greatest
* Italy: Il più grande italiano di tutti i tempi
* Japan: The Top 100 Historical Persons in Japan
* Netherlands: De Grootste Nederlander
* New Zealand: New Zealand's Top 100 History Makers
* Portugal: Os Grandes Portugueses
* Romania: 100 Greatest Romanians
* Russia: Name of Russia
* South Africa: Great South Africans
* Spain: El Español de la Historia
* Ukraine: Velyki Ukraïntsi
* United Kingdom: 100 Greatest Britons
* United States: The Greatest American
* Wales: 100 Welsh Heroes

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template