Russia's Putin sexy, but not that sexy: Magazine

In his most recent escapade this August, Putin "saved" a TV crew from a gory death at the hands of a tiger, shooting it in the nick of time with a tranquiliser gun in Ussuriland.

Compiled from an anonymous poll among 20 female employees, most of them in their mid-30s, the results are sometimes surprising.

Eduard Limonov — the aging opposition figure, who sports a tufted haircut and goatie — comes in at number 14. Thrice married, his current partner is some 30 years his junior.

"Putin's just short — what's sexy about that?" laughed Limonov, before conceding that Putin's power was his biggest attraction.

Snappy dresser Gref has shaved off his trademark goatie to come in at number nine. Heavily-lined foreign minister Sergei Lavrov — most prominent in recent weeks for his hawkish comments regarding Georgia — slides in at number 15. Yashin scraped in at 19, and promptly posted the ratings on his blog.

Mikhail Kasyanov — also known as "Misha-two-percent", an allusion to the kickbacks he allegedly received during his tenure as prime minister — is pictured beaming at number 16. Ramzan Kadyrov — the Kremlin-friendly Chechen leader, who keeps tigers as pets — takes 18th place.