Stalin, last czar nearly tied in fame poll

MOSCOW, July 15 (UPI) -- Josef Stalin and Czar Nicholas II are running neck-and-neck in an online Russian poll to determine the country's most significant historical figure.

The Internet poll, part of state-run TV station Russia's "Name of Russia" program, had attracted more than 2.3 million votes as of 9 p.m. Monday, with 252,360 cast for Soviet dictator Stalin and 252,262 votes cast in favor of Nicholas II, the country's last monarch, the Moscow Times reported Tuesday.

Stalin had initially held a healthy lead over the czar until a glut of votes in support of Nicholas poured in thanks to a campaign on Russian social networking site Odnoklassniki.ru.

As of Monday evening, Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin was in third place with 171,224 votes and folk singer Vladimir Vysotsky was in fourth with 150,405 votes. In fifth place was Peter the Great with 115,115 votes.

Internationally renowned playwright Anton Chekhov and poets Alexander Pushkin and Sergei Yesenin were also in the top 50 as of Monday.