Stalin gets my vote. Even Ivan the Terrible didn't depopulate half his country.

Stalin was a Soviet leader, not Russian. ;) Anyway, I would say Yeltsin.

i'm pretty sure that tank meant 'russian' as in that big country has bee up in the north for the past three quaters of a century or so, so that refferes to the USSR as well. In that case, it is without a doubt Stalin, probably the most evil man of the 20th century. If refuring to Russia as in post soviet union russia, you don't get many choices, i mean it has only had 2 leaders. The best Russian leader award would have tyo go to Gorbachav. He re-opened the door to the west. (held 3 meeting with US president in 1985 alone), legalised the ownership of businesses, cut major spendings on the arms race to try and re build the russian ecconomy, and sighned nuclear treaty with US to pull out majority of nukes out of Europe. You could say that he ended the could war.

"Worst" and "evil" are not equals. Worst leader, IMHO, was Emperor Nikolay II. He was weak and in 1917 willingly surrendered his power to corrupted politicians and extremists. They are, in turn, had lead our country to bolshevism/communism. Best leader was definitely Peter The Great. He had built a great Empire from scratch just in 20 years or so.

Worst and terrible aren't synonyms. Gorbachov and Yeltsin along with perhaps Nicolai II are the worst. Gorbachov mostly out of bad luck, the others out of pure incompetence. Stalin and Ivan the Terrible on the other thing did great things for Russia (especially Stalin) in comparison Sincerely OplotMira

Ivan the terrible was evil and ruthless but he was highly efficient. He destroyed the power of Turkish Khanates of Russian steppes and destroyed half of their population. After him Turks became a minority in the steppes. Peter the Great without any doubt the best Russian leader and probably the best leader of his age. He might not be a good general but his administration and diplomacy skills were unparalled. Even his campaigns shows how a ruler must prepare a war. In the Great Northern War, the alliance against Sweden was mostly his creation. He adapted his army according to its defeats. He knew how to trade space for time, how to exploit a weakness, and use both administration and diplomacy as a part of a military campaign.

And he beat the Swedes!