Since the crisis in Ukraine in 2014, Russian president Vladimir Putin took the role of the most unpredictable and ambiguous world leader. The evaluation of his personality is both a necessary and a challenging part of any conclusion on the political line-up in the modern Russia.The thirty-second President of the United States Franklin d. Roosevelt asked to judge him on the basis of the enemies he has made. So we would venture to say that the image of Russian politics in General and of Putin in particular is not complete without at least a brief look at the Russian opposition leaders.
This paper will focus on the profile of Vladimir Putin and of one of his biggest critics -the Progress Party leader Alexej Navalny. In 2012 Navalny was described by The Wall Street Journal as "the man who is the most feared by Vladimir Putin". In 2013, Navalny stated his ambition to run for President in 2000, but in 2015 he was convicted of fraud and was ineligible until 2020. The method of Aubrey Immelman (2004) is applied for compiling the profiles remotely (‘assessment at a distance’).
We attempt at comparing the profiles of Vladimir Putin and Alexej Navalny. The research will link the personality and leadership components of both leaders to their political activities and, in the case of Putin, his policy. In addition, conclusions of the study will throw light on the underlying motives in the strategies of these politicians. The purpose of the research is to assess the competitive ability of the main opposition leader in Russia on the basis of his psychological profile. The method of Aubry Immelman is applied for compiling and updating the profiles remotely.
