Name of Russia (Russian: Имя Россия, English: "The Name of Russia") 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. 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.[1]
The twelve candidates for greatest Russian were:[2]
| Candidate | Date of birth | Date of death | Promoter | Airdate | Final position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alexander II, emperor who abolished serfdom in Russia | 1818 | 1881 | Director of RAS Russian history institute Andrey Sakharov | 30 November 2008 | 12 |
| Fyodor Dostoyevsky, writer | 1821 | 1881 | RF Ambassador in NATO Dmitriy Rogozin | 9 November 2008 | 7 |
| Catherine the Great, empress | 1729 | 1796 | Governor of Krasnodar Krai Aleksandr Tkachyov | 16 November 2008 | 11 |
| Ivan the Terrible, tsar | 1530 | 1584 | Painter Ilya Glazunov | 14 December 2008 | 10 |
| Vladimir Lenin, the revolutionary founder of the Soviet Union | 1870 | 1924 | CPRF leader Gennady Zyuganov | 23 November 2008 | 6 |
| Dmitri Mendeleev, chemist who invented the periodic table | 1834 | 1907 | Professor, vice-president RAES Sergei Kapitsa | 26 October 2008 | 9 |
| Peter the Great, first Emperor of Russia | 1672 | 1725 | RF Ambassador to Ukraine Viktor Chernomyrdin | 12 October 2008 | 5 |
| Alexander Pushkin, writer and poet | 1799 | 1837 | Pushkinist and Soviet dissident Yuriy Kublanovskiy | 17 December 2008 | 4 |
| Alexander Nevsky, Grand prince of Novgorod and Vladimir | 1220 | 1263 | Mitropolit Kirill | 5 October 2008 | 1 |
| 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 | 3 |
| Pyotr Stolypin, prime minister of the Russian Empire | 1862 | 1911 | Film-director Nikita Mikhalkov | 21 December 2008 | 2 |
| Alexander Suvorov, general of the Russian Imperial Army | 1729 | 1800 | Federation Council of Russia speaker Sergey Mironov | 2 November 2008 | 8 |