114 Facts About Dmitry Medvedev

Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev is a Russian politician who has been serving as the deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia since 2020.

Dmitry Medvedev was regarded as more liberal than his predecessor, Vladimir Putin, who was appointed prime minister during Medvedev's presidency.

Dmitry Medvedev's top agenda as president was a wide-ranging modernisation programme, aiming at modernising Russia's economy and society, and lessening the country's reliance on oil and gas.

Dmitry Medvedev launched an anti-corruption campaign, despite later being accused of corruption himself.

Dmitry Medvedev served a single term in office and was succeeded by Putin following the 2012 presidential election.

Dmitry Medvedev resigned along with the rest of the government on 15 January 2020 to allow Putin to make sweeping constitutional changes; he was succeeded by Mikhail Mishustin on 16 January 2020.

Dmitry Medvedev was born on 14 September 1965 in Leningrad, in the Soviet Union.

Dmitry Medvedev's father, Anatoly Afanasyevich Medvedev, was a chemical engineer teaching at the Leningrad State Institute of Technology.

Dmitry Medvedev was fond of sports, and participated in athletic competitions in rowing and weight-lifting.

Dmitry Medvedev graduated from the Leningrad State University Faculty of Law in 1987.

In 1990, Dmitry Medvedev defended his dissertation titled, "Problems of Realisation of Civil Juridical Personality of State Enterprise" and received his Doctor of Juridical Science degree in civil law.

In 1988, Dmitry Medvedev joined Sobchak's team of democrats and served as the de facto head of Sobchak's successful campaign for a seat in the new Soviet parliament, the Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR.

Sobchak hired Dmitry Medvedev who had previously headed his election campaign.

In November 1993, Dmitry Medvedev became the legal affairs director of Ilim Pulp Enterprise, a St Petersburg-based timber company.

Dmitry Medvedev aided the company in developing a strategy as the firm launched a significant expansion.

Dmitry Medvedev then took his first job at the central government of Russia.

Three months later, in November 1999, Dmitry Medvedev became one of several from St Petersburg brought in by Vladimir Putin to top government positions in Moscow.

On 17 January 2000, Dmitry Medvedev was promoted to 1st class Active State Councillor of the Russian Federation by the Decree signed by Vladimir Putin as acting President of Russia.

Dmitry Medvedev was quoted after the election commenting he thoroughly enjoyed the work and the responsibility calling it "a test of strength".

Dmitry Medvedev appointed Medvedev chairman of gas company Gazprom's board of directors in 2000 with Alexei Miller.

Dmitry Medvedev put an end to the large-scale tax evasion and asset stripping by the previous corrupt management.

Dmitry Medvedev then served as deputy chair from 2001 to 2002, becoming chair for the second time in June 2002, a position which he held until his ascension to presidency in 2008.

Dmitry Medvedev headed Russia's negotiations with Ukraine and Belarus during gas price disputes.

In October 2003, Dmitry Medvedev replaced Alexander Voloshin as presidential chief of staff.

In November 2005, Dmitry Medvedev moved from the presidential administration of the government when Putin appointed him as first deputy prime minister of Russia.

In particular, Dmitry Medvedev was made responsible for the implementation of the National Priority Projects focusing on improving public health, education, housing and agriculture.

Dmitry Medvedev's popularity was probably boosted by his high-profile role in the National Priority Projects.

Dmitry Medvedev formally registered his candidacy with the Central Election Commission on 20 December 2007 and said he would step down as chairman of Gazprom, since under the current laws, the president is not permitted to hold another post.

Dmitry Medvedev's registration was formally accepted as valid by the Russian Central Election Commission on 21 January 2008.

Putin pledged that he would accept the position of prime minister should Dmitry Medvedev be elected president.

In January 2008, Dmitry Medvedev launched his campaign with stops in the oblasts.

On 22 January 2008, Dmitry Medvedev held what was effectively his first campaign speech at Russia's second Civic Forum, advocating a liberal-conservative agenda for modernising Russia.

Dmitry Medvedev argued that Russia needed "decades of stable development" because the country had "exhausted its share of revolutions and social upheavals back in the twentieth century".

Dmitry Medvedev therefore emphasised liberal modernisation while still aiming to continue his predecessor's agenda of stabilisation.

On 15 February 2008, Dmitry Medvedev held a keynote speech at the Fifth Krasnoyarsk Economic Forum, saying that:.

Economically, Dmitry Medvedev advocated private property, economic deregulation and lower taxes.

Dmitry Medvedev was elected President of Russia on 2 March 2008.

On 7 May 2008, Dmitry Medvedev took an oath as the third president of the Russian Federation in a ceremony held in the Grand Kremlin Palace.

On 8 May 2008, Dmitry Medvedev appointed Putin Prime Minister of Russia as he had promised during his election campaign.

Dmitry Medvedev was reported to have taken care not to upset the balance of different factions in the presidential administration and in the government.

At the time of the attack, Dmitry Medvedev was on vacation and Putin was attending the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The next day, Dmitry Medvedev released a statement, in which he said:.

Shortly in the aftermath of the conflict, Dmitry Medvedev formulated a 5-point strategy of the Russian foreign policy, which has become known as the Dmitry Medvedev Doctrine.

Dmitry Medvedev said the money from privatisation should be used to help modernise the economy and the regions should be rewarded for finding their own sources of cash.

Dmitry Medvedev has named technological innovation one of the key priorities of his presidency.

In May 2009, Dmitry Medvedev established the Presidential Commission on Innovation, which he will personally chair every month.

Dmitry Medvedev has said that giant state corporations will inevitably be privatised, and although the state had increased its role in the economy in recent years, this should remain a temporary move.

On 7 August 2009, Dmitry Medvedev instructed the prosecutor general, Yury Chayka, and the chief of the Audit Directorate of the Presidential Administration of Russia, Konstantin Chuychenko, to probe state corporations, a new highly privileged form of organisation earlier promoted by President Putin, to question their appropriateness.

Dmitry Medvedev made reforming Russia's law enforcement one of his top agendas, the reason for which was a shooting started by a police officer in April 2009 in one of Moscow's supermarkets.

Dmitry Medvedev initiated the reform at the end of 2009, with a presidential decree issued on 24 December ordering the government to begin planning the reform.

On 27 October 2010, President Dmitry Medvedev submitted the draft to the lower house of the Russian parliament, the State Duma.

On 7 February 2011, President Dmitry Medvedev signed the bill into law.

On 19 May 2008, Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree on anti-corruption measures, which included creation of an Anti-Corruption Council.

On 13 April 2010, Dmitry Medvedev signed presidential decree No 460 which introduced the National Anti-Corruption Strategy, a midterm government policy, while the plan is updated every two years.

In January 2011, President Dmitry Medvedev admitted that the government had so far failed in its anti-corruption measures.

On 4 May 2011, Dmitry Medvedev signed the Federal Law On Amendments to the Criminal Code and the Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation to Improve State Anti-Corruption Management.

President Dmitry Medvedev initiated a new policy called "Our New School" and instructed the government to present a review on the implementation of the initiative every year.

On 6 November 2010, Dmitry Medvedev vetoed a recently passed bill which restricted antigovernment demonstrations.

In late November 2010, Dmitry Medvedev made a public statement about the damage being done to Russia's politics by the dominance of the United Russia party.

In May 2009, Dmitry Medvedev set up the Presidential Commission of the Russian Federation to Counter Attempts to Falsify History to the Detriment of Russia's Interests.

Dmitry Medvedev denied the involvement of the Soviet Union in the Soviet invasion of Poland together with Nazi Germany.

Dmitry Medvedev said it was Joseph Stalin who in fact "ultimately saved Europe".

On 30 October 2009, due to the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Political Repressions, President Dmitry Medvedev published a statement in his video blog.

Dmitry Medvedev stressed that the memory of national tragedies is as sacred as the memory of victory.

Dmitry Medvedev recalled that for twenty of the pre-war years entire layers and classes of the Russian people were destroyed.

On 31 August 2008, Dmitry Medvedev shifted Russia's foreign policy under his government, built around five main principles:.

In March 2011, Dmitry Medvedev urged US President Barack Obama to prevent civilian casualties during NATO's military intervention in Libya.

Dmitry Medvedev said Russia was concerned about possible civilian casualties in what he called the "indiscriminate" use of force in Libya.

On 21 November 2011, Dmitry Medvedev claimed that the war on Georgia had prevented further NATO expansion.

In 2011, during the performance at the Yaroslavl Global Policy Forum, President Dmitry Medvedev has declared that the doctrine of Karl Marx on class struggle is extremist and dangerous.

Dmitry Medvedev laid flowers at the Eternal Fire and honoured the memory of the victims with a minute of silence.

On 24 September 2011, while speaking at the United Russia party congress, Dmitry Medvedev recommended Vladimir Putin as the party's presidential candidate and revealed that the two men had long ago cut a deal to allow Putin to return to the presidency in 2012 after he was forced to stand down in 2008 by term limits.

Dmitry Medvedev said he himself would be ready to perform "practical work in the government".

Putin accepted Dmitry Medvedev's offer the same day, and backed him for the position of the prime minister of Russia in case the United Russia, whose list of candidates in the elections Dmitry Medvedev agreed to head, were to win in the upcoming Russian legislative election.

On 7 May 2012, the same day he ceased to be the president of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev was nominated by President Vladimir Putin to the office of prime minister.

Dmitry Medvedev took office as prime minister of Russia on 8 May 2012, after President Vladimir Putin signed the decree formalising his appointment to the office.

On 19 May 2012, Dmitry Medvedev took part in the G-8 Summit at Camp David, in the United States, replacing President Putin, who decided not to represent Russia in the summit.

Dmitry Medvedev was the first prime minister to represent Russia at a G-8 meeting.

On 31 March 2014, Dmitry Medvedev visited Crimea after the peninsula became part of Russia on 18 March.

On 7 May 2018, Dmitry Medvedev was nominated as prime minister by Vladimir Putin for another term.

Dmitry Medvedev stated that he was resigning to allow President Putin to make the significant constitutional changes suggested by Putin regarding shifting power away from the presidency.

Dmitry Medvedev said that the constitutional changes would "significantly change Russia's balance of power".

Putin suggested that Dmitry Medvedev take the post of deputy chairman of the Security Council.

On 16 January 2020, Dmitry Medvedev was appointed to the post of deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia.

Dmitry Medvedev's salary was set at 618,713 rubles.

International analysts have described this turn as an attempt by the "once mild-mannered Dmitry Medvedev" to "cover his back and shore up his political future" during the turmoil brought on by the war and Russia's increasingly nationalistic and hawkish political climate.

In February 2022, after sanctions had been imposed on Russia due to its invasion of Ukraine, Dmitry Medvedev stated that Russia did not need diplomatic relations with the West and that the sanctions imposed on the country gave it good reason to pull out of dialogue on nuclear stability and potentially New START.

Dmitry Medvedev said that Russia has many friends and they are not in Europe and North America.

On 27 July 2022, Dmitry Medvedev shared a map on Telegram, described as predictions of "Western analysts", showing Ukraine, including its occupied territories, mostly absorbed by Russia, as well as Poland, Romania and Hungary.

In September 2022 Dmitry Medvedev said that any weapons in Russia's arsenal, including strategic nuclear weapons, could be used to protect territories annexed to Russia from Ukraine.

Dmitry Medvedev said that referendums organized by Russia-installed and separatist authorities would take place in large swathes of Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory, and that there was "no turning back".

On 21 December 2022, Dmitry Medvedev visited Beijing and met with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

On 14 January 2023, in response to Japanese PM Fumio Kishida making a joint statement with US President Joe Biden condemning a hypothetical Russian use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine, Dmitry Medvedev accused Kishida of "shameful subservience" to the United States and suggested Kishida should ritually disembowel himself by seppuku to atone.

On 24 February 2023 Dmitry Medvedev was thinking of unilaterally changing the borders of Poland.

On 20 March 2023, in response to the ICC issuing a warrant for Putin, Dmitry Medvedev posted on Telegram saying that "It is quite possible to imagine a hypersonic missile being fired from the North Sea from a Russian ship at The Hague courthouse".

On 8 April 2023, Dmitry Medvedev said that Ukraine will "disappear" as "no one needs it".

On 19 April 2023 Dmitry Medvedev promised South Korea that Russia would arm North Korea with its weapons if South Korea armed Ukraine.

In February 2022, after Russia was suspended from the Council of Europe due to its invasion of Ukraine, and subsequently announced its intention to withdraw from the organization, Dmitry Medvedev stated that while the decision to suspend Russia was "unfair", it was a "good opportunity" to reinstate the death penalty in Russia.

In November 2022, Dmitry Medvedev called the Russians who fled Russia after the invasion "cowardly traitors" and said that Russia was "stronger and cleaner" without them.

Dmitry Medvedev called for the use of death squads against politically active Russian exiles.

On 23 March 2023 Dmitry Medvedev turned his attention inwards, to domestic defence firms.

Dmitry Medvedev is a fan of British hard rock, listing Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd, and Deep Purple as his favourite bands.

Dmitry Medvedev is a collector of their original vinyl records and has previously said that he has collected all of the recordings of Deep Purple.

Dmitry Medvedev is a fan of football and follows his hometown professional football team, FC Zenit Saint Petersburg.

The photo was purchased by Mikhail Zingarevich, a co-founder and member of the board of directors of the Ilim Group at which Dmitry Medvedev worked as a lawyer in the 90s.

Dmitry Medvedev's reported 2007 annual income was $80,000, and he reported approximately the same amount as bank savings.

Dmitry Medvedev is familiar with this phenomenon and takes no offence, stating that the web meme has the right to exist.

Dmitry Medvedev speaks English, in addition to his native Russian, but during interviews he speaks only Russian.

Dmitry Medvedev wrote two short articles on the subject of his doctoral dissertation in Russian law journals.

Dmitry Medvedev is the author of a university textbook, Questions of Russia's National Development, first published in 2007, concerning the role of the Russian state in social policy and economic development.

Dmitry Medvedev is the lead co-author of a book of legal commentary entitled, A Commentary on the Federal Law "On the State Civil Service of the Russian Federation".

In October 2008, President Dmitry Medvedev delivered the first podcast at the presidential website.

On 23 June 2011, Dmitry Medvedev participated in launching of the "Eternal Values" project of RIA Novosti state-operated news agency together with Russian chapter of Wikimedia Foundation.

On 13 April 2009, Dmitry Medvedev gave a major interview to the Novaya Gazeta newspaper.