--- description: U.S. President Barack Obama dropped down to third place title: Vladimir Putin Tops Forbes' Most Powerful People List image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt600dc86e1456b34e/69886f96428a9e82caccff0e/vladimir-putin-power.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [politics](/tag/politics/) ## politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Putin Tops Forbes' Most Powerful People List For Third Year in a Row ## Video: What Does the Future Hold for Russia? [Watch (HLS stream): What Does the Future Hold for Russia?](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/YH4HSUuc.m3u8) (2:03)  _Published 2015-10-27. TIME Editor-at-Large Ian Bremmer on Russia_ by [Tara John](/author/tara-john/) ## Tara John Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 4, 2015 4:48 PM CUT  Russian President Vladimir Putin visits an exhibit at Russia's Museum of History November 3, 2015 in Moscow, Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin visits an exhibit at Russia's Museum of History November 3, 2015 in Moscow, Russia.Sasha Mordovets—Getty Images by [Tara John](/author/tara-john/) ## Tara John Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 4, 2015 4:48 PM CUT For the third year running, Russian President Vladimir Putin has been picked as the world’s most powerful person by _Forbes._ He beat U.S. President Barack Obama, who dropped down to third place, and German Chancellor [Angela Merkel](http://www.forbes.com/profile/angela-merkel/ "undefined"), currently in second, due to being “one of the few men in the world powerful enough to do what he wants –and get away with it,” [wrote _Forbes_](http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidewalt/2015/11/04/the-worlds-most-powerful-people-2015/ "undefined"). Nothing can keep Putin down, says the magazine. His approval ratings soared to 89% despite Russia’s deepening recession and “international sanctions set in place after he seized Crimea and waged war-by-proxy in the Ukraine.” He has also been rebuilding Russia’s influence abroad. “In October, he bombed ISIS forces in Syria and then [met face-to-face with President Assad](http://time.com/4080886/russia-syria-meeting-isis-moscow/ "undefined"), making the U.S and NATO look weak in the region” _Forbes_ wrote. To compile the list, which includes Pope Francis, Larry Page and world’s richest man Bill Gates, they measured power along four dimensions: whether the candidate has power over lots of people, financial resources, if they held power in multiple spheres and whether they used said power. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4099785/putin-forbes-most-powerful-people/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4099785/putin-forbes-most-powerful-people/"},"headline":"Putin Tops Forbes' Most Powerful People List For Third Year in a Row","datePublished":"2015-11-04T16:48:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T12:20:18.561Z","description":"U.S. President Barack Obama dropped down to third place","url":"https://time.com/4099785/putin-forbes-most-powerful-people/","keywords":["politics"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt600dc86e1456b34e/69886f96428a9e82caccff0e/vladimir-putin-power.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tara John","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tara-john/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt600dc86e1456b34e/69886f96428a9e82caccff0e/vladimir-putin-power.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Russian President Vladimir Putin Visits Russia's Museum of History","caption":"Russian President Vladimir Putin Visits Russia's Museum of History","creditText":"Sasha Mordovets—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/politics/","name":"politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4099785/putin-forbes-most-powerful-people/","name":"Putin Tops Forbes' Most Powerful People List For Third Year in a Row"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"What Does the Future Hold for Russia?","description":"TIME Editor-at-Large Ian Bremmer on Russia","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/YH4HSUuc/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-10-27T17:21:01.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/YH4HSUuc.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4099785/putin-forbes-most-powerful-people/","duration":"PT2M3S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4099785/putin-forbes-most-powerful-people/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```