Readers have voted Vladimir Putin into Time Magazine's list of the 100 most influential people of 2008. He is in 55th place of the online poll with more than 28,000 votes.

This, however, is quite separate from the list of the most influential person of 2008 that will be chosen in-house by Time Magazine's correspondents from around the world as London bureau chief Catherine Mayer explained. They send their suggestions based on criteria such as the the actual influence a person has in a certain walk of life. Then, following a series of debates, one person is chosen.

Still, she did note that Putin has had significant weight in world affairs during his term, which is something that the West had not expected when he took office.

Vladimir Putin was on the cover Time Magazine as 2007 Person of the Year. Although he steps down as president next week he is expected to become new prime minister. So Catherine Mayer says she does not rule out he could possible appear on the journal’s cover once again.