When asked by Nezavisimaya Gazeta, the Economic News Agency came up with its political influence rating of Russian entrepreneurs and investors in the last quarter of 2008.

The country’s Top 50 most influential businesspeople were selected by a group of fifty-seven experts among 108 candidates on the basis of a zero to five scale (where zero to one would stand for minimum influence, one to two would stand for insignificant influence, two to three would stand for average influence, three to four would stand for strong influence, and four to five would stand for very strong influence.

Viktor Rashnikov, Chairman of Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK), was given the 27th position in the last quarter of 2008 and the 28th position in the third quarter of 2008, which was one of the best scores among the representatives of the Russian metallurgical industry. As for the final year’s rating, Rashnikov was given the 27th and the 28th positions.

‘A certain rating improvement in the fourth quarter of 2008 can be explained by the fact that Viktor Rashnikov was able to persuade their baking coal suppliers to lower their prices by 30% at the end of the year. This bargain enabled the enterprise to smoothen the crisis outcomes,’ the rating experts note.