"Time" names Vladimir Putin "a significant figure" of the year 2002

Summing up results of the year 2002, the US Time magazine put Russian President Vladimir Putin on the list of "the most significant" people that had a strong influence on the world events. The list contains 14 names, including those of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, and Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf.

Other "significant persons" on the list that Time prints every year are Hans Blix, the head of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, General Tommy Franks, the US Central Command Commander-in-Chief, and Nancy Pelosi, the new leader of the Democrats in the House of Representatives of US Congress and the United States' first woman to have been elected to this post.