Stalin Ranked as Third-Greatest Russian in Poll

Despite being responsible for the deaths of millions of Soviets in labor camps and purges, as well as throwing millions at the Germans, some without weapons, in WWII, former Soviet dictator Josef Stalin finished third in a recent poll by a TV station, state-run Rossiya.

The Great Purge of the 1930s, was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union during 1937 - 38. It resulted in the deaths of up to 2 million people.

The project, the "Name of Russia," has a site here.

In first place was Russian medieval leader Alexander Nevsky, with 524,575 votes. In second place was Pyotr Stolypin, a prime minister early in the 20th century under Czar Nicholas II, who was assassinated in 1911, with 523,766 votes. Stalin finished with 519,071 votes.

Nevsky defeated various European invaders during his 13th-century reign and was subsequently canonized.

Stolypin, while recognized for land reform, is also notorious for his brutal quashing of leftist revolutionaries, seeing to it that hundred were hung.

Stalin, an ethnic Georgian by birth, led for much of the campaign. Then the show's producer appealed to viewers to vote for someone else, according to the BBC.

Lyudmila Alexeyeva, head of the Moscow Helsinki human rights watchdog, called Stalin's inclusion a "requiem for humanitarian education."

Nearly 4.5 million votes were cast in total. Oh, and if you're wondering, only those already deceased could be voted for, which is why there's no Putin, I assume.