Putin, Zelensky Feature on TIME 100 List of Influential People 2022

TIME has released its list of 100 most influential people in 2022 and it features a surprise. In the category of leaders, both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as well as Russian President Vladimir Putin are present.

Including both leaders in the list of 100 most influential could be a controversial one, but TIME's Editor-In-Chief and CEO explains the selection by saying, “When our team gets together to choose the TIME100, we have one barometer: influence. Who shaped the year? Who stood up? Who stood out? 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.”

President Zelensky's write-up has been written by none other than United States of America, Joe Biden (who is also on the list) himself. In it he writes “In President Zelensky, the people of Ukraine have a leader worthy of their bravery and resilience”. He goes on to add, “The nations of the free world , inspired by the example of  President Zelensky are more united, more determined, more purposeful than at any point in our recent memory.”

President Putin's write-up has been written by jailed Russian opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, who is currently serving nine years in a maximum-security penal colony. Navalny in his column talks about the duck test, which basically means that “if something looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, it probably is a duck.”

He continues this by saying, “The very same logic applied in this case (to Putin): 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.

The annual list of influential people features pioneers, artists, titans, leaders and icons from around the who have had the most impact in the year.