Was Khlebnikov the greates russian poet of this century? With Mandelstam he probably was. At least he was the most futurist one and of all the avant-garde poets i'd believe he's been the greatest. His influence has been extraordinary on artist in this century. I can recall american artist Richard Serra considering him as one of his favourites poets and in Spain, Jorge Oteiza wrote once that the russian was the greatest poet of the century. Celan, Mandelstam, Khlebnikov and Cernuda are my poets.