Stalin is named 'the most outstanding person' in history pushing Putin into second place in a Russian poll despite executing more than a million people and starving nearly ten million more
- Survey released Monday showed 38 percent of those two took part chose Stalin
- Figure far cry from 12 percent who picked him in 1989 when his crimes came out
- Experts think more than a million people were killed under the ex-leader's watch
- But more Russians now admire Stalin as a strong leader after World War Two
Soviet leader Josef Stalin has been named the most outstanding person in history in a Russian poll despite executing more than a million people in political purges.
The survey by the Levada Center in Moscow released Monday showed 38 percent of those two took part chose Stalin.
The figure is in stark contrast to the mere 12 percent who picked him in 1989 when Russians were beginning to discover the crimes of the Stalin regime.
Soviet leader Josef Stalin, who has been voted the most outstanding person in history by a recent opinion poll in Russia
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Scholars estimate under Stalin more than a million people were executed in political purges.
Millions more died in the vast prison camp system or as a result of mass starvation and deportations.
But an increasing number of Russians now admire Stalin as a strong leader who led their country to victory in World War Two.
Vladimir Putin was pushed into joint second place
Stalin pushed current President Vladimir Putin into joint second alongside poet Alexander Pushkin.
In the poll conducted in April by the independent pollster, Russians were asked to pick the ten greatest individuals of all time.
While Stalin came out on top with 38 percent, Putin shared second place on 34 percent with Russia's beloved national bard Pushkin.
Revolutionary Vladimir Lenin, Tsar Peter the Great and first man in space Yury Gagarin came next in the list of 20 people, with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in last place on six percent.
The list includes famed statesmen, writers and scientists but only three foreigners -Napoleon Bonaparte, Albert Einstein, and Isaac Newton.
Stalin topped a similar poll back in 2012 with an even higher score as Russians focus on his role in winning World War Two rather the millions who were executed or sent to prison camps under his rule.
Putin's percentage was the highest since he began appearing in the poll in 2003.
The poll of 1,600 people has a 3.4-percent margin of error.
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