Penza, 10 March 2016. PenzaNews. The Penza region governor Ivan Belozertsev has improved his standing in the February 2016 influence rating of Russian region heads complied by the Agency of Political and Economic Communications.

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While Ivan Belozertsev held the 50th place in January, he reached the 46th position over February.

All heads of regions were classified in three categories: Very Strong Influence (places 1 to 20), Strong Influence (places 21 to 50), and Average Influence (51st to 85th), with the Penza region governor included in the second category.

The February 2016 closed poll that served as the basis for the influence rating of Russian region heads involved 25 experts – political analysts and engineers, media experts and journalists.

The participants were asked to answer the following question: “In a range from 1 to 10, how would you evaluate the influence of the following heads of regions on the federal level – in the Presidential administration, the Russian government, the Federal Council, the ruling party and business elite?”

After each of the experts evaluated influence levels of the candidates featured in the poll, the analysts calculated an average of their marks.

The final rating is a consolidated evaluation of influence exhibited by heads of regions individually, according to rankings of leading Russian experts. The personalities included in the rating were classified in three categories: Very Strong Influence (places 1 to 20), Strong Influence (places 21 to 50), and Average Influence (51st to 85th).