Opposition defeats Putin (in hotness)

TATYANA MAKEYEVA/AFP/Getty Images

Vladimir Putin may no longer be the president of sexy after all. The Russian magazine Sex & the City just released a ranking of Russia's hottest politicians and the shirtless-fishing, tiger-shooting prime minister is ranked... No. 2.

Adding insult to injury, Putin was pushed into second place by Boris Nemtsov (right), a former deputy prime minister and leader of the opposition party Union of Right Forces. Nemtsov's recent white paper on corruption under Putin was described by the Carnegie Endowment's Lilia Shevtsova as a "bomb, which anywhere but in Russia would cause the country to collapse."

Putin's loyal toadies in the Duma were quick to step forward and defend their fearless leader's staggering sexiness:

Sergei Markov, a United Russia deputy in the State Duma, said he was taken aback by the result.

"Putin is way better than Nemtsov," he said. "He's one of the sexiest politicians in the world." His looks may be average, he conceded, but his "decisive, harsh and unbending" character makes him extremely attractive.

This is probably not Markov's proudest day in public office.  

If Putin's feeling are hurt, he can take comfort in his number-one ranking on Vanity Fair's new "most influential" list and the fact that he's still way hotter than Dmitry Medvedev, number 7 on the Sex & the City list.