Russian President Vladimir Putin ranked as the world's most powerful leader in a 2013 Forbes list for 'most powerful leader' list released on Wednesday, as reported by Agence France Presse. It marked the first time in three years that U.S. President Barack Obama dropped to second place on the magazine's list.
"Putin has solidified his control over Russia while Obama's lame duck period has seemingly set in earlier than usual for a two-term president -latest example: the government shutdown mess," wrote Forbes magazine. "Anyone watching this year's chess match over Syria and NSA leaks has a clear idea of the shifting individual power dynamics," Forbes wrote.
The decision by the publication comes after a series of current events, which have frayed U.S-Russian ties. In August Russia granted asylum to former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden who continues to be wanted by the U.S over espionage charges. One month later, Putin managed to avert Obama's threatened use of airstrikes on Syria with a plan for his ally, Bashar al-Assad, to hand over chemical weapons to the United Nations.
The list included "17 heads of state who run nations with a combined GDP of $48 trillion and 27 CEOs and chairs who control over $3 trillion in annual revenues," according to the magazine. Third place went to Chinese President Xi Jinping.
It was also reported that during the G20 Summit in St. Petersburg, Russian official gave out 'goodie bags' filled with USB drives and telephone chargers, which were were designed to download the users' information and pass it along to intelligence agents at the Kremlin, The New York Post reported.
The "German security experts said the three-pronged phone chargers were actually capable of tapping into emails, text messages and telephone calls," news reports said.
