Dmitry Medvedev

Dmitry Medvedev in 1967, at approximately 2 years old

Dmitry Medvedev was born on 14 September 1965 in Leningrad, in the Soviet Union. His father, Anatoly Afanasyevich Medvedev (November 1926 – 2004), was a chemical engineer teaching at the Leningrad State Institute of Technology.^[8][9] Dmitry's mother, Yulia Veniaminovna Medvedeva (née Shaposhnikova, born 21 November 1939),^[10] studied languages at Voronezh University and taught Russian at Herzen State Pedagogical University. Later, she would also work as a tour guide at Pavlovsk Palace. The Medvedevs lived in a 40m² apartment at 6 Bela Kun Street in the Kupchino Municipal Okrug (district) of Leningrad.^[11][12] Dmitry was his parents' only child. The Medvedevs were regarded at the time as a Soviet intelligentsia family.^[12] His maternal grandparents were Ukrainians whose surname was Kovalev, originally Koval. Medvedev traces his family roots to the Belgorod region.^[13]

As a child, Medvedev was intellectually curious, described by his first grade teacher Vera Smirnova as a "dreadful why-asker". After school, he would spend some time playing with his friends before hurrying home to work on his assignments. In the third grade, Medvedev studied the ten-volume Small Soviet Encyclopedia belonging to his father.^[12] In the second and third grades, he showed interest in dinosaurs and memorised primary Earth's geologic development periods, from the Archean up to the Cenozoic. In the fourth and fifth grades he demonstrated interest in chemistry, conducting elementary experiments. He was involved to some degree with sport. In grade seven, his adolescent curiosity blossomed through his relationship with Svetlana Linnik, his future wife, who was studying at the same school in a parallel class.^[12] This apparently affected Medvedev's school performance. He calls the school's final exams in 1982 a "tough period when I had to mobilize my abilities to the utmost for the first time in my life."^[11][14]

Student years and academic career

The Faculty of Law building of Saint Petersburg State University, the place where Medvedev studied and later taught.

In the autumn of 1982, 17-year-old Medvedev enrolled at Leningrad State University to study law. Although he also considered studying linguistics, Medvedev later said he never regretted his choice, finding his chosen subject increasingly fascinating, stating that he was lucky "to have chosen a field that genuinely interested him and that it was really 'his thing'".^[11][12] Fellow students described Medvedev as a correct and diplomatic person who in debates presented his arguments firmly, without offending.^[12]

During his student years, Medvedev was a fan of the English rock bands Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, and Deep Purple. He was also fond of sports, and participated in athletic competitions in rowing and weight-lifting.^[15]

He graduated from the Leningrad State University Faculty of Law in 1987 (together with Ilya Yeliseyev, Anton Ivanov, Nikolay Vinnichenko and Konstantin Chuychenko, who later became associates). After graduating, Medvedev considered joining the prosecutor's office to become an investigator however, he took an opportunity to pursue graduate studies as the civil law chair, deciding to accept three budget-funded post-graduate students to work at the chair itself.^[11]

In 1990, Medvedev defended his dissertation titled, "Problems of Realisation of Civil Juridical Personality of State Enterprise" and received his Doctor of Juridical Science (Candidate of Juridical Sciences) degree in civil law.^[16]

Anatoly Sobchak, a major democratic politician of the 1980s and 1990s was one of Medvedev's professors at the university. In 1988, 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.^[17]

After Sobchak's election campaign Medvedev continued his academic career in the position of docent at his alma mater, now renamed Saint Petersburg State University.^[18] He taught civil and Roman law until 1999. According to one student, Medvedev was a popular teacher; "strict but not harsh". During his tenure Medvedev co-wrote a popular three-volume civil law textbook which over the years has sold a million copies.^[12] Medvedev also worked at a small law consultancy firm which he had founded with his friends Anton Ivanov and Ilya Yeliseyev, to supplement his academic salary.^[12]

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Pavlovsk Palace

Pavlovsk Palace

Pavlovsk Palace is an 18th-century Russian Imperial residence built by the order of Catherine the Great for her son Grand Duke Paul, in Pavlovsk, within Saint Petersburg. After his death, it became the home of his widow, Maria Feodorovna. The palace and the large English garden surrounding it are now a Russian state museum and public park.

Intelligentsia

Intelligentsia

The intelligentsia is a status class composed of the university-educated people of a society who engage in the complex mental labours by which they critique, shape, and lead in the politics, policies, and culture of their society; as such, the intelligentsia consists of scholars, academics, teachers, journalists, and literary writers.

Koval (surname)

Koval (surname)

Koval is a Ukrainian surname. The word means "blacksmith", making "Koval" the equivalent of "Smith" in the English-speaking world. Notable people with the name include:Anastasia Koval, Ukrainian artistic gymnast Andriy Koval, Ukrainian football player Denis Koval, Russian speed skater George Koval (1913–2006), spy for the Soviet Union in the United States Ihor Koval, Ukrainian historian and political scholar Ivan Koval-Samborsky (1893–1962), Ukrainian stage and film actor J. J. Koval, American soccer player Maksym Koval, Ukrainian football goalkeeper Mykhailo Koval, Ukrainian military officer, Minister of Defence of Ukraine Mykola Koval, Ukrainian operatic baritone Oleksandr Koval, Ukrainian football coach and former player Peter Kovál, American professional photographer Ramona Koval, Australian reporter Robin Koval, American businesswoman, author and CEO and president of Truth Initiative Stanislav Koval, Ukrainian football player Vera Koval, Russian judoka Viktor Koval (1947–2021), Russian writer, poet and actor Viktoriya Koval, Ukrainian archery athlete Vital Koval, Belarusian ice hockey goaltender Vitalina Koval, Ukrainian LGBT rights activist Vitaliy Koval, Ukrainian entrepreneur and politician Vlada Koval, Russian tennis player Volodymyr Koval, Ukrainian-Canadian football player Volodymyr Koval, Ukrainian football player Yevgeni Koval, Russian football player Yuriy Koval, Ukrainian football coach, Director of Sport for the club Zorya Luhansk, and former player Yuriy Koval, Ukrainian Greco-Roman wrestler Yury Koval (1938–1995), Russian author

Belgorod Oblast

Belgorod Oblast

Belgorod Oblast is a federal subject of Russia. Its administrative center is the city of Belgorod. Population: 1,540,486 (2021 Census); 1,532,526 (2010 Census); 1,511,620 (2002 Census); 1,380,723 (1989 Census).

Small Soviet Encyclopedia

Small Soviet Encyclopedia

The Small Soviet Encyclopedia was a general encyclopedia published in the Soviet Union. The encyclopedia was published in three editions:1st edition, 10 volumes -- the volumes were sold as they were published, hence the different publication dates for the 10 volumes. 2nd edition, 11 volumes 3rd edition, 10 volumes

Geological history of Earth

Geological history of Earth

The geological history of Earth follows the major geological events in Earth's past based on the geological time scale, a system of chronological measurement based on the study of the planet's rock layers (stratigraphy). Earth formed about 4.54 billion years ago by accretion from the solar nebula, a disk-shaped mass of dust and gas left over from the formation of the Sun, which also created the rest of the Solar System.

Saint Petersburg State University Faculty of Law

Saint Petersburg State University Faculty of Law

The Faculty of Law at Saint Petersburg State University is the oldest law school and one of the biggest research centers in Russia.

Saint Petersburg State University

Saint Petersburg State University

Saint Petersburg State University is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the Great, the university from the beginning has had a focus on fundamental research in science, engineering and humanities.

Linguistics

Linguistics

Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language — cognitive, social, environmental, biological as well as structural.

Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath were an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. They are often cited as pioneers of heavy metal music. The band helped define the genre with releases such as Black Sabbath (1970), Paranoid (1970) and Master of Reality (1971). The band had multiple line-up changes following Osbourne's departure in 1979 and Iommi is the only constant member throughout their history.

Led Zeppelin

Led Zeppelin

Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist and keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are cited as one of the progenitors of hard rock and heavy metal, although their style drew from a variety of influences, including blues and folk music. Led Zeppelin have been credited as significantly impacting the nature of the music industry, particularly in the development of album-oriented rock (AOR) and stadium rock.

Deep Purple

Deep Purple

Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, but their musical approach has changed over the years. Originally formed as a psychedelic rock and progressive rock band, they shifted to a heavier sound with their 1970 album Deep Purple in Rock. Deep Purple, together with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, have been referred to as the "unholy trinity of British hard rock and heavy metal in the early to mid-seventies". They were listed in the 1975 Guinness Book of World Records as "the globe's loudest band" for a 1972 concert at London's Rainbow Theatre and have sold over 100 million albums worldwide.

Career in St Petersburg

Facade of the Smolny Institute, meeting place of the City Hall's Committee for Foreign Affairs where Medvedev worked as a consultant.

In 1990, Anatoly Sobchak returned from Moscow to become chairman of the Leningrad City Council. Sobchak hired Medvedev who had previously headed his election campaign. One of Sobchak's former students, Vladimir Putin, became an adviser. The next summer, Sobchak was elected Mayor of the city, and Medvedev became a consultant to City Hall's Committee for Foreign Affairs. It was headed by Putin.^[11][12]

In November 1993, Medvedev became the legal affairs director of Ilim Pulp Enterprise (ILP), a St. Petersburg-based timber company. Medvedev aided the company in developing a strategy as the firm launched a significant expansion. Medvedev received 20% of the company's stock. In the next seven years Ilim Pulp Enterprise became Russia's largest lumber company with an annual revenue of around $500 million. Medvedev sold his shares in ILP in 1999. He then took his first job at the central government of Russia. The profits realised by Medvedev are unknown.^[12]

Career in the central government

Medvedev with Vladimir Putin on 27 March 2000, a day after Putin's victory in the presidential election

In June 1996, Medvedev's colleague Vladimir Putin was brought into the Russian presidential administration. Three years later, on 16 August 1999, he became Prime Minister of Russia. Three months later, in November 1999, Medvedev became one of several from St. Petersburg brought in by Vladimir Putin to top government positions in Moscow. On 31 December, he was appointed deputy head of the presidential staff, becoming one of the politicians closest to future President Putin. On 17 January 2000, Dmitry Medvedev was promoted to 1st class Active State Councillor of the Russian Federation (the highest federal state civilian service rank) by the Decree signed by Vladimir Putin as acting President of Russia.^[19] During the 2000 presidential elections, he was Putin's campaign manager. Putin won the election with 52.94% of the popular vote. Medvedev was quoted after the election commenting he thoroughly enjoyed the work and the responsibility calling it "a test of strength".^[12]

As president, Putin launched a campaign against corrupt oligarchs and economic mismanagement. He appointed Medvedev chairman of gas company Gazprom's board of directors in 2000 with Alexei Miller. Medvedev put an end to the large-scale tax evasion and asset stripping by the previous corrupt management.^[20] Medvedev then served as deputy chair from 2001 to 2002, becoming chair for the second time in June 2002,^[11] a position which he held until his ascension to presidency in 2008.^[21] During Medvedev's tenure, Gazprom's debts were restructured^[22] and the company's market capitalisation grew from $7.8 billion^[23] in 2000 to $300 billion in early 2008. Medvedev headed Russia's negotiations with Ukraine and Belarus during gas price disputes.^[22]

In October 2003, Medvedev replaced Alexander Voloshin as presidential chief of staff. In November 2005, Medvedev moved from the presidential administration of the government when Putin appointed him as first deputy prime minister of Russia. In particular, Medvedev was made responsible for the implementation of the National Priority Projects focusing on improving public health, education, housing and agriculture. The program saw an increase of wages in healthcare and education and construction of new apartments but its funding, 4% of the federal budget, was not enough to significantly overhaul Russia's infrastructure. According to opinion polls, most Russians believed the money invested in the projects had been spent ineffectively.^[12]

Presidential candidate

President-elect Medvedev with Vladimir Putin in 2008

Following his appointment as first deputy prime minister, many political observers began to regard Medvedev as a potential candidate for the 2008 presidential elections,^[24] although Western observers widely believed Medvedev was too liberal and too pro-Western for Putin to endorse him as a candidate. Instead, Western observers expected the candidate to arise from the ranks of the so-called siloviki, security and military officials many of whom were appointed to high positions during Putin's presidency.^[12] The silovik Sergei Ivanov and the administrator-specialist Viktor Zubkov were seen as the strongest candidates.^[25] In opinion polls which asked Russians to pick their favourite successor to Putin from a list of candidates not containing Putin himself, Medvedev often came out first, beating Ivanov and Zubkov as well as the opposition candidates.^[26] In November 2006, Medvedev's trust rating was 17%, more than double than that of Ivanov. Medvedev's popularity was probably boosted by his high-profile role in the National Priority Projects.^[27]

Many observers were surprised when on 10 December 2007, President Putin introduced Medvedev as his preferred successor. This was staged on TV with four parties suggesting Medvedev's candidature to Putin, and Putin then giving his endorsement. The four pro-Kremlin parties were United Russia, Fair Russia, Agrarian Party of Russia and Civilian Power.^[25] United Russia held its party congress on 17 December 2007 where by secret ballot of the delegates, Medvedev was officially endorsed as their candidate in the 2008 presidential election.^[28] He 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.^[29] His registration was formally accepted as valid by the Russian Central Election Commission on 21 January 2008.^[30] Describing his reasons for endorsing Medvedev, Putin said:

I am confident that he will be a good president and an effective manager. But besides other things, there is this personal chemistry: I trust him. I just trust him.^[12]

Discover more about Early career related topics

Smolny Institute

Smolny Institute

The Smolny Institute is a Palladian edifice in Saint Petersburg that has played a major part in the history of Russia.

Anatoly Sobchak

Anatoly Sobchak

Anatoly Aleksandrovich Sobchak was a Soviet and Russian politician, a co-author of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the first democratically elected mayor of Saint Petersburg, and a mentor and teacher of future presidents Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev.

Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer, serving as the current president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime minister from 1999 to 2000 and from 2008 to 2012, and as president from 2000 to 2008 and since 2012.

Lumber

Lumber

Lumber is wood that has been processed into uniform and useful sizes, including beams and planks or boards. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing. Lumber has many uses beyond home building. Lumber is sometimes referred to as timber as an archaic term and still in England, while in most parts of the world the term timber refers specifically to unprocessed wood fiber, such as cut logs or standing trees that have yet to be cut.

Prime Minister of Russia

Prime Minister of Russia

The chairman of the government of the Russian Federation, also informally known as the prime minister, is the head of government of Russia. Although the post dates back to 1905, its current form was established on 12 December 1993 following the introduction of a new constitution.

Presidential Administration of Russia

Presidential Administration of Russia

The Presidential Executive Office of Russia or the Presidential Administration of Russia is the executive office of the President of Russia created by a decree of Boris Yeltsin on 19 July 1991 as an institution supporting the activity of the president and the vice-president of Russian SFSR, as well as deliberative bodies attached to the president, including the Security Council.

1st class Active State Councillor of the Russian Federation

1st class Active State Councillor of the Russian Federation

1st class Active State Councillor of the Russian Federation is the highest federal state civilian service rank of Russia.

State civilian and municipal service ranks in Russian Federation

State civilian and municipal service ranks in Russian Federation

The federal state civilian service ranks in Russia were introduced with enactment of the Federal Law of 27 July 2004 No.79-FZ "About state civilian service of Russian Federation".

President of Russia

President of Russia

The president of the Russian Federation is the head of state of Russia. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government of Russia and is the commander-in-chief of the Russian Armed Forces. It is the highest office in Russia.

2000 Russian presidential election

2000 Russian presidential election

Presidential elections were held in Russia on 26 March 2000. Incumbent prime minister and acting president Vladimir Putin, who had succeeded Boris Yeltsin after his resignation on 31 December 1999, was seeking a four-year term in his own right and won the elections in the first round.

Campaign manager

Campaign manager

A campaign manager, campaign chairman, or campaign director is a paid or volunteer individual whose role is to coordinate a political campaign's operations such as fundraising, advertising, polling, getting out the vote, and other activities supporting the effort, directly.

Gazprom

Gazprom

PJSC Gazprom is a Russian majority state-owned multinational energy corporation headquartered in the Lakhta Center in Saint Petersburg. As of 2019, with sales over $120 billion, it was ranked as the largest publicly listed natural gas company in the world and the largest company in Russia by revenue. In the 2020 Forbes Global 2000, Gazprom was ranked as the 32nd largest public company in the world. The Gazprom name is a contraction of the Russian words gazovaya promyshlennost. In January 2022, Gazprom displaced Sberbank from the first place in the list of the largest companies in Russia by market capitalization. At present, the company is delisted from international markets, and continues substantial construction in its operational results.

Election campaign

Medvedev's election campaign took advantage of Putin's high popularity and his endorsement of Medvedev.

As 2 March 2008 election approached, the outgoing president, Vladimir Putin, remained the country's most popular politician. An opinion poll by Russia's independent polling organisation, the Levada Center,^[31] conducted over the period 21–24 December 2007 indicated that when presented a list of potential candidates, 79% of Russians were ready to vote for Medvedev if the election was immediately held.^[32][33] The other main contenders, the Communist Gennady Zyuganov and the LDPR's Vladimir Zhirinovsky both received in 9% in the same poll.^[34][35] Much of Putin's popularity transferred to his chosen candidate, with 42% of the survey responders saying that Medvedev's strength came from Putin's support to him.^[36][37]

In his first speech after being endorsed, Medvedev stated that, as president, he would appoint Vladimir Putin to the post of prime minister to head the Russian government.^[38] Although constitutionally barred from a third consecutive presidential term, such a role would allow Putin to continue as an influential figure in Russian politics.^[39] Putin pledged that he would accept the position of prime minister should Medvedev be elected president. Although Putin had pledged not to change the distribution of authority between the president and prime minister, many analysts expected a shift in the center of power from the presidency to the prime minister post when Putin assumed the latter under a Medvedev presidency.^[40] Election posters portrayed the pair side by side with the slogan "Together We Win"^[41] ("Вместе победим").^[42] Medvedev vowed to work closely with Putin once elected.^[43]

In December 2007, in preparation for his election campaign, Medvedev promised that funding of the National Priority Projects would be raised by 260 billion rubles for 2008. Medvedev's election campaign was relatively low-key and, like his predecessor, Medvedev refused to take part in televised debates, citing his high workload as first deputy prime minister as the reason. Instead, Medvedev preferred to present his views on his election website Medvedev2008.ru.^[44]

In January 2008, Medvedev launched his campaign with stops in the oblasts.^[45] On 22 January 2008, Medvedev held what was effectively his first campaign speech at Russia's second Civic Forum, advocating a liberal-conservative agenda for modernising Russia. 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". Medvedev therefore emphasised liberal modernisation while still aiming to continue his predecessor's agenda of stabilisation.^[46] On 15 February 2008, Medvedev held a keynote speech at the Fifth Krasnoyarsk Economic Forum, saying that:

Freedom is better than non-freedom – this principle should be at the core of our politics. I mean freedom in all its manifestations – personal freedom, economic freedom and, finally, freedom of expression.^[46]

In the Krasnoyarsk speech, Medvedev harshly condemned Russia's "legal nihilism" and highlighted the need to ensure the independence of the country's judicial system and the need for an anti-corruption program. Economically, Medvedev advocated private property, economic deregulation and lower taxes. According to him, Russia's economy should be modernised by focusing on four "I"s: institutions, infrastructure, innovation and investment.^[46][47][48]

Election win

Medvedev with Putin on election day on 2 March 2008

Medvedev was elected President of Russia on 2 March 2008. The final election results gave him 70.28% (52,530,712) of votes with a turnout of 69.78% of registered voters. The main contenders, Gennady Zyuganov and Vladimir Zhirinovsky received 17.72% and 9.35% respectively. Three-quarters of Medvedev's vote was Putin's electorate. According to surveys, had Putin and Medvedev both run for president in the same elections, Medvedev would have received 9% of the vote.^[49]

The fairness of the election was disputed by international observers. Andreas Gross, head of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) mission, stated that the elections were "neither free nor fair". Moreover, the few western vote monitors bemoaned the inequality of candidate registration and the abuse of administrative resources by Medvedev allowing blanket television coverage.^[50] Russian programmer Shpilkin analysed the results of Medvedev's election and came to the conclusion that the results were falsified by the election committees. However, after the correction for the alleged falsification factor, Medvedev still came out as the winner although with 63% of the vote instead of 70%.^[51]

Discover more about 2008 presidential election related topics

2008 Russian presidential election

2008 Russian presidential election

Presidential elections were held in Russia on 2 March 2008, and resulted in the election of Dmitry Medvedev as the third President of Russia. Medvedev was elected for a four-year term, whose candidacy was supported by incumbent president Vladimir Putin and five political parties, received 71% of the vote, and defeated Gennady Zyuganov of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, and Vladimir Zhirinovsky of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia.

Dmitry Medvedev 2008 presidential campaign

Dmitry Medvedev 2008 presidential campaign

The 2008 presidential campaign of Dmitry Medvedev was the successful campaign of Dmitry Medvedev in the 2008 Russian presidential election.

Communist Party of the Russian Federation

Communist Party of the Russian Federation

The Communist Party of the Russian Federation is a left-wing nationalist and communist political party in Russia that officially adheres to Marxist–Leninist philosophy. It is the second-largest political party in Russia after United Russia. The youth organisation of the party is the Leninist Young Communist League.

Gennady Zyuganov

Gennady Zyuganov

Gennady Andreyevich Zyuganov is a Russian politician, who has been the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and served as Member of the State Duma since 1993. He is also the Chair of the Union of Communist Parties – Communist Party of the Soviet Union (UCP-CPSU) since 2001.

Liberal Democratic Party of Russia

Liberal Democratic Party of Russia

LDPR — Liberal Democratic Party of Russia is a right-wing populist and ultranationalist political party in Russia. It succeeded the Liberal Democratic Party of the Soviet Union (LDPSU) in Russia after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The party was led by Vladimir Zhirinovsky since its inception until his death in April 2022. Opposing both communism and neoliberal capitalism of the 1990s, and advocating for monarchism albeit in a constitutional form, the party scored a major success in the 1993 Duma elections with almost 23% of the vote, giving it 64 seats of the 450 seats in the State Duma. In the 2021 elections, the party received 7.55% of the vote, giving it 21 seats.

Government of Russia

Government of Russia

The Government of Russia exercises executive power in the Russian Federation. The members of the government are the prime minister, the deputy prime ministers, and the federal ministers. It has its legal basis in the Constitution of the Russian Federation and the federal constitutional law "On the Government of the Russian Federation". The Apparatus of the Government of Russia is a governmental body which administrates the activities of the government.

Constitution of Russia

Constitution of Russia

The Constitution of the Russian Federation was adopted by national referendum on 12 December 1993. Russia's constitution came into force on 25 December 1993, at the moment of its official publication, and abolished the Soviet system of government. The current Constitution is the second most long-lived in the history of Russia, behind the Constitution of 1936.

National Priority Projects

National Priority Projects

The National Priority Projects of Russia was a program of the Russian government set out by Russian President Vladimir Putin in his speech on 5 September 2005.

Oblast

Oblast

An oblast is a type of administrative division within some Slavic areas, the Russian Empire, and the Soviet Union; it continues to be used in Russia and some post-Imperial/Soviet states. The term oblast has no universal definition or exact comparison in English, although it has been presented as analogous to the term "county" in the U.S.

Liberal conservatism

Liberal conservatism

Liberal conservatism is a political ideology combining conservative policies with liberal stances, especially on economic issues but also on social and ethical matters, representing a brand of political conservatism strongly influenced by liberalism.

Krasnoyarsk

Krasnoyarsk

Krasnoyarsk is the largest city and administrative center of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It is situated along the Yenisey River, and is the second-largest city in Siberia after Novosibirsk, with a population of over 1.1 million. Krasnoyarsk is an important junction of the renowned Trans-Siberian Railway, and is one of the largest producers of aluminium in the country.

Legal nihilism

Legal nihilism

Legal nihilism is negative attitude toward law. Legal nihilism is "an erosion of the belief in law as a beneficial institution of societal organization." Many scholars believe that legal nihilism is a destructive phenomenon.

Inauguration

Taking the presidential oath in the Grand Kremlin Palace on 7 May 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.^[52] After taking the oath of office and receiving a gold chain of double-headed eagles symbolising the presidency, he stated:^[53]

I believe my most important aims will be to protect civil and economic freedoms... We must fight for a true respect of the law and overcome legal nihilism, which seriously hampers modern development.^[53]

His inauguration coincided with the celebration of the Victory Day on 9 May. He attended the military parade at Red Square and signed a decree to provide housing to war veterans.^[54]

Personnel appointments

Medvedev appointed Sergei Naryshkin as the new head of the presidential administration.

On 8 May 2008, Dmitry Medvedev appointed Putin Prime Minister of Russia as he had promised during his election campaign. The nomination was approved by the State Duma with a clear majority of 392–56, with only Communist Party of the Russian Federation deputies voting against.^[22]

12 May 2008, Putin proposed the list of names for his new cabinet which Medvedev approved. Most of the personnel remained unchanged from the period of Putin's initial presidency but there were several high-profile changes. The Minister of Justice, Vladimir Ustinov was replaced by Aleksandr Konovalov; the Minister of Energy, Viktor Khristenko was replaced with Sergei Shmatko; the Minister of Communications, Leonid Reiman was replaced with Igor Shchyogolev and Vitaliy Mutko received the newly created position of Minister of Sports, Tourism and Youth policy.^[22]

In the presidential administration, Medvedev replaced Sergei Sobyanin with Sergei Naryshkin as the head of the administration. The head of the Federal Security Service, Nikolai Patrushev, was replaced with Alexander Bortnikov.^[22] Medvedev's economic adviser Arkady Dvorkovich and his press attaché Natalya Timakova became part of the president's core team. Medvedev's old classmate from his student years, Konstantin Chuichenko, became his personal assistant.^[27]

Medvedev was reported to have taken care not to upset the balance of different factions in the presidential administration and in the government. However, the influence of the powerful security/military-related siloviki weakened after Medvedev's inauguration for the first time in 20 years. In their place, Medvedev brought in the so-called civiliki, a network of St. Petersburg civil law scholars preferred by Medvedev for high positions.^[27][55]

"Tandem rule"

Medvedev with Putin in 2008

From the beginning of Medvedev's tenure, the nature of his presidency and his relationship with Putin was subject to considerable media speculation. In a unique situation in the Russian Federation's political history, the constitutionally powerful president was now flanked with a highly influential prime minister (Putin), who also remained the country's most popular politician. Previous prime ministers had proven to be almost completely subordinate to the president and none of them had enjoyed strong public approval, with Yevgeny Primakov and Putin's previous tenure (1999–2000) as prime minister under Boris Yeltsin being the only exceptions.^[22] Journalists quickly dubbed the new system with a practically dual-headed executive as "government by tandem" or "tandemocracy", with Medvedev and Putin called the "ruling tandem".^[12]

Daniel Treisman has argued that early in Medvedev's presidency, Putin seemed ready to disengage and started withdrawing to the background. In the first year of Medvedev's presidency, two external events threatening Russia—the late-2000s financial crisis and the 2008 South Ossetia war—changed Putin's plans and caused him to resume a stronger role in Russian politics.^[12]

Main external events

2008 Russo-Georgian War

Russian invasion in Russo-Georgian War

Presidential decree recognising South Ossetia's independence, signed by Medvedev on 26 August 2008

The long-lingering conflict between Georgia and the separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which were supported by Russia, escalated during the summer of 2008. On 1 August 2008, the Russian-backed South Ossetian forces started shelling Georgian villages, with a sporadic response from Georgian peacekeepers in the area. Intensifying artillery attacks by the South Ossetians broke a 1992 ceasefire agreement. To put an end to these attacks, the Georgian army units were sent in to the South Ossetian conflict zone on 7 August. Georgian troops took control of most of Tskhinvali, a separatist stronghold, in hours.^[56][57]

At the time of the attack, Medvedev was on vacation and Putin was attending the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.^[58] At about 1:00 a.m on 8 August, Medvedev held a telephone conversation with the Defence Minister, Anatoliy Serdyukov. It is likely that during this conversation, Medvedev authorised the use of force against Georgia.^[59] The next day, Medvedev released a statement, in which he said:

Last night, Georgian troops committed what amounts to an act of aggression against Russian peacekeepers and the civilian population in South Ossetia ... In accordance with the Constitution and the federal laws, as President of the Russian Federation it is my duty to protect the lives and dignity of Russian citizens wherever they may be. It is these circumstances that dictate the steps we will take now. We will not allow the deaths of our fellow citizens to go unpunished. The perpetrators will receive the punishment they deserve.

— Dmitry Medvedev on 8 August 2008^[60]

In the early hours of 8 August, Russian military forces launched a counter-offensive against Georgian troops. After five days of heavy fighting, all Georgian forces were routed from South Ossetia and Abkhazia. On 12 August, Medvedev ended the Russian military operation, entitled "Operation to force Georgia into peace". Later on the same day, a peace deal brokered by the French and EU president, Nicolas Sarkozy, was signed between the warring parties. On 26 August, after being unanimously passed by the State Duma, Medvedev signed a decree recognising South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states. The five-day conflict cost the lives of 48 Russian soldiers, including 10 peacekeepers, while the casualties for Georgia was 170 soldiers and 14 policemen.^[61]

The Russian popular opinion of the military intervention was broadly positive, not just among the supporters of the government, but across the political spectrum.^[62] Medvedev's popularity ratings soared by around 10 percentage points to over 70%,^[63] due to what was seen as his effective handling of the war.^[64]

Shortly in the aftermath of the conflict, Medvedev formulated a 5-point strategy of the Russian foreign policy, which has become known as the Medvedev Doctrine. On 30 September 2009, the European Union–sponsored Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Conflict in Georgia stated that, while preceded by months of mutual provocations, "open hostilities began with a large-scale Georgian military operation against the town of Tskhinvali and the surrounding areas, launched in the night of 7 to 8 August 2008."^[65][66]

2008–09 economic crisis

In September 2008, Russia was hit by repercussions of the global financial crisis. Before this, Russian officials, such as the Finance Minister, Alexei Kudrin, had said they believed Russia would be safe, due to its stable macroeconomic situation and substantial reserves accumulated during the years of growth. Despite this, the recession proved to be the worst in the history of Russia, and the country's GDP fell by over 8% in 2009.^[67] The government's response was to use over a trillion rubles (more than $40 billion U.S. Dollars) to help troubled banks,^[68] and initiated a large-scale stimulus programme, lending $50 billion to struggling companies.^[67][68] No major banks collapsed, and minor failures were handled in an effective way. The economic situation stabilised in 2009, but substantial growth did not resume until 2010. Medvedev's approval ratings declined during the crisis, dropping from 83% in September 2008 to 68% in April 2009, before recovering to 72% in October 2009 following improvements in the economy.^[69][70]

According to some analysts, the economic crisis, together with the 2008 South Ossetia war, delayed Medvedev's liberal programme. Instead of launching the reforms, the government and the presidency had to focus their efforts on anti-crisis measures and handling the foreign policy implications of the war.^[71][72]

Domestic policy

Economy

Model of a GLONASS-K satellite. Medvedev made space technology and telecommunications one of the priority areas of his modernisation programme.

In the economic sphere, Medvedev has launched a modernisation programme which aims at modernising Russia's economy and society, decreasing the country's dependency on oil and gas revenues and creating a diversified economy based on high technology and innovation.^[73] The programme is based on the top 5 priorities for the country's technological development: efficient energy use; nuclear technology; information technology; medical technology and pharmaceuticals; and space technology in combination with telecommunications.^[74]

In November 2010, on his annual speech to the Federal Assembly Medvedev stressed for greater privatisation of unneeded state assets both at the federal and regional level, and that Russia's regions must sell-off non-core assets to help fund post-crisis spending, following in the footsteps of the state's planned $32 billion 3-year asset sales. 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.^[75][76]

Medvedev has named technological innovation one of the key priorities of his presidency. In May 2009, Medvedev established the Presidential Commission on Innovation, which he will personally chair every month. The commission comprises almost the entire Russian government and some of the best minds from academia and business.^[77] Medvedev has also 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.^[78]

In June 2010, he visited the Twitter headquarters in Silicon Valley declaring a mission to bring more high-tech innovation and investment to the country.^[79]

Police reform

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. 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. In early August 2010, a draft law was posted on the Internet at the address [1] for public discussion. The new website received more than 2,000 comments within 24 hours.^[80] Based on citizen feedback, several modifications to the draft were made. On 27 October 2010, President Medvedev submitted the draft to the lower house of the Russian parliament, the State Duma.^[81] The State Duma voted to approve the bill on 28 January 2011, and the upper house, the Federation Council followed suit on 2 February 2011. On 7 February 2011, President Medvedev signed the bill into law. The changes came into effect on 1 March 2011.

Under the reform, the salaries of Russian police officers were increased by 30%, Interior Ministry personnel were cut and financing and jurisdiction over the police were centralised. Around 217 billion rubles ($7 billion) were allocated to the police reform from the federal budget for the time frame 2012–2013.^[82]

Anti-corruption campaign

Medvedev chairing a meeting the Anti-Corruption Council on 30 September 2008

On 19 May 2008, Medvedev signed a decree on anti-corruption measures, which included creation of an Anti-Corruption Council. In the first meeting of the council on 30 September 2008, Medvedev said:^[83]

I will repeat one simple, but very painful thing. Corruption in our country has become rampant. It has become commonplace and characterises the life of the Russian society.

In July 2008, Medvedev's National Anti-Corruption Plan was published in the official Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper. It suggested measures aimed at making sanctions for corruption more severe, such as legislation to disqualify state and municipal officials who commit minor corruption offences and making it obligatory for officials to report corruption. The plan ordered the government to prepare anti-corruption legislation based on these suggestions.^[84][85] The bill that followed, called On Corruption Counteraction was signed into law on 25 December 2008 as Federal Law N 273-FZ.^[86] According to Professor Richard Sakwa, "Russia now at last had serious, if flawed, legislation against corruption, which in the context was quite an achievement, although preliminary results were meagre."^[83] Russia's score in Corruption Perceptions Index rose from 2.1 in 2008 to 2.2 in 2009, which "could be interpreted as a mildly positive response to the newly adopted package of anti-corruption legislation initiated and promoted by president Medvedev and passed by the Duma in December 2008", according to Transparency International's CPI 2009 Regional Highlights report.^[87]

On 13 April 2010, 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. The new strategy stipulated increased fines, greater public oversight of government budgets and sociological research.^[88][89] According to Georgy Satarov, president of the Indem think tank, the latest decree "probably reflected Medvedev's frustration with the fact that the 2008 plan had yielded little result."^[88]

In January 2011, President Medvedev admitted that the government had so far failed in its anti-corruption measures.^[90]

On 4 May 2011, 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.^[91] The bill raised fines for corruption to up to 100 times the amount of the bribe given or received, with the maximum fine being 500 million rubles ($18.3 million).

Education

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (November 2010)

President 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.^[92]

Development of the political system

A Just Russia's Sergey Mironov was very critical of the 2009 regional elections.

Regional elections held on 1 March 2009 were followed by accusations of administrative resources being used in support of United Russia candidates, with the leader of A Just Russia, Sergey Mironov, being especially critical. Responding to this, Medvedev met with the chairman of the Central Election Commission of Russia, Vladimir Churov, and called for moderation in the use of administrative resources.^[93] In August 2009, Medvedev promised to break the near-dominant position of United Russia party in national and regional legislatures, stating that "New democratic times are beginning".^[94] The next regional elections were held on 11 October 2009 and won by United Russia with 66% of the vote. The elections were again harshly criticised for the use of administrative resources in favour of United Russia candidates. Communist, LDPR and A Just Russia parliamentary deputies staged an unprecedented walkout on 14–15 October 2009 as a result.^[93] Although Medvedev often promised to stand up for more political pluralism, Professor Richard Sakwa observed, after the 2009 regional elections, a gulf formed between Medvedev's words and the worsening situation, with the question arising "whether Medvedev had the desire or ability to renew Russia's political system."^[93]

On 26 October 2009, the First Deputy Chief of Staff, Vladislav Surkov, warned that democratic experiments could result in more instability and that more instability "could rip Russia apart".^[95] On 6 November 2010, Medvedev vetoed a recently passed bill which restricted antigovernment demonstrations. The bill, passed on 22 October, prohibited anyone who had previously been convicted of organising an illegal mass rally from seeking permission to stage a demonstration.^[96]

In late November 2010, Medvedev made a public statement about the damage being done to Russia's politics by the dominance of the United Russia party. He claimed that the country faced political stagnation if the ruling party would "degrade" if not challenged; "this stagnation is equally damaging to both the ruling party and the opposition forces." In the same speech, he said Russian democracy was "imperfect" but improving. BBC Russian correspondents reported that this came on the heels of discontent in political circles and opposition that the authorities, in their view, had too much control over the political process.^[97]

Medvedev visits the Russian Republic of Tatarstan.

In his first State of the Nation address to the Russian parliament on 5 November 2008,^[98] Medvedev proposed to change the Constitution of Russia in order to increase the terms of the president and State Duma from four to six and five years respectively (see 2008 Amendments to the Constitution of Russia).

Medvedev on 8 May 2009, proposed to the legislature and on 2 June signed into law an amendment whereby the chairperson of the Constitutional Court and his deputies would be proposed to the parliament by the president rather than elected by the judges, as was the case before.^[99]

In May 2009, Medvedev set up the Presidential Commission of the Russian Federation to Counter Attempts to Falsify History to the Detriment of Russia's Interests.^[100] In August of the same year, he stated his opposition to the equating of Stalinism with Nazism. Medvedev denied the involvement of the Soviet Union in the Soviet invasion of Poland together with Nazi Germany. Arguments of the European Union and of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) were called a lie. Medvedev said it was Joseph Stalin who in fact "ultimately saved Europe".^[101]

On 30 October 2009, due to the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Political Repressions, President Medvedev published a statement in his video blog. He stressed that the memory of national tragedies is as sacred as the memory of victory. Medvedev recalled that for twenty of the pre-war years entire layers and classes of the Russian people were destroyed (this period includes the Red Terror mainly under the lead of Felix Dzerzhinsky, the crimes of Joseph Stalin and other evil deeds of the Soviet Bolsheviks). Nothing can take precedence over the value of human life, said the president.^[102]

Medvedev and Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych in Kyiv, Ukraine on 17 September 2010

In a speech on 15 September 2009, Medvedev stated that he approved of the abolition in 2004 of direct popular elections of regional leaders, effectively in favour of their appointment by the Kremlin, and added that he did not see a possibility of a return to direct elections even in 100 years.^[103]

Election law changes

In 2009, Medvedev proposed an amendment to the election law which would decrease the State Duma election threshold from 7% to 5%. The amendment was signed into law in Spring 2009. Parties receiving more than 5% but less than 6% of the votes would henceforward be guaranteed one seat, while parties receiving more than 6% but less than 7% will get two seats. These seats will be allocated before the seats for parties with over 7% support.^[104]

Russian election law stipulates that parties with representatives in the State Duma are free to put forward a list of candidates for the Duma elections, while parties with no current representation need first to collect signatures. Under the 2009 amendments initiated by Medvedev, the number of signatures required was lowered from 200,000 to 150,000 for the 2011 Duma elections. In subsequent elections, only 120,000 signatures will be required.^[104]

Foreign policy

Medvedev with Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel in Germany in July 2011

Medvedev with Obama after signing the New START treaty in Prague, Czech Republic^[105][106]

In August, during the third month of Medvedev's presidency, Russia took part in the 2008 South Ossetia war with Georgia, which drove tension in Russia–United States relations to a post–Cold War high. On 26 August, following a unanimous vote of the Federal Assembly of Russia, Medvedev issued a presidential decree officially recognising Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states,^[107] an action condemned by the G8.^[108] On 31 August 2008, Medvedev shifted Russia's foreign policy under his government, built around five main principles:

1. Fundamental principles of international law are supreme.
2. The world will be multipolar.
3. Russia will not seek confrontation with other nations.
4. Russia will protect its citizens wherever they are.
5. Russia will develop ties in friendly regions.

Medvedev meeting with Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council, and Jose Manuel Barroso, in Brussels, 2010

BRICS leaders in 2012 – Dilma Rousseff, Medvedev, Manmohan Singh, Hu Jintao, and Jacob Zuma

Medvedev and President Abdelaziz Bouteflika in Algiers

Medvedev meets with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, 2010.

In his address to the parliament on 5 November 2008 he also promised to deploy the Iskander missile system and radar-jamming facilities in Kaliningrad Oblast to counter the U.S. missile defence system in Eastern Europe.^[109] Following U.S. President Barack Obama's 17 September 2009 decision to not deploy missile-defense elements in the Czech Republic and Poland, Dmitry Medvedev said he decided against deploying Iskander missiles in Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast.

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

In 2011, during the performance at the Yaroslavl Global Policy Forum, President Medvedev has declared that the doctrine of Karl Marx on class struggle is extremist and dangerous. Progressive economic stratification which can be less evident in period of economic growth, leads to acute conflicts between rich and poor people in period of downturn. In such conditions, the doctrine on class struggle is being revived in many regions of the world, riots and terrorist attacks become reality, by opinion of Medvedev.^[110]

In August 2014, President Barack Obama said: "We had a very productive relationship with President Medvedev. We got a lot of things done that we needed to get done."^[111]

During the official visit to Armenia on 7 April 2016, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev visited the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex to pay tribute to the victims of the Armenian genocide. Medvedev laid flowers at the Eternal Fire and honoured the memory of the victims with a minute of silence. Russia recognised the crime in 1995.^[112]

Relationship with Putin

Although the Russian constitution clearly apportions the greater power in the state to the president, speculation arose over the question of whether it was Medvedev or Prime Minister Vladimir Putin who actually wielded the most power.^[113] According to London Daily Telegraph, "Kremlin-watchers" note that Medvedev uses the more formal form of 'you' (Вы, 'vy') when addressing Putin, while Putin addresses Medvedev with the less formal 'ty' (ты).^[113]

According to a poll conducted in September 2009 by the Levada Center in which 1,600 Russians took part, 13% believed Medvedev held the most power, 32% believed Putin held the most power, 48% believed that the two shared equal levels of influence, and 7% failed to answer.^[114] However, Medvedev attempted to affirm his position by stating, "I am the leader of this state, I am the head of this state, and the division of power is based on this."^[115]

2012 presidential elections

As both Putin and Medvedev could have run for president in the 2012 general elections, there was a view from some analysts that some of Medvedev's contemporaneous actions and comments at the time were designed to separate his image from Putin's. BBC News suggested these might include his dealings in late 2010 with NATO and the United States, possibly designed to show himself as being better able to deal with Western nations,^[116] and comments in November about the need for a stronger opposition in Russian politics, to present himself as a moderniser. BBC News observed other analysts considered the split to be exaggerated, that Medvedev and Putin were "trying to maximise support for the authorities by appealing to different parts of society".^[97] There was belief that the court verdict on former oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his partner Platon Lebedev, both of whom funded opposition parties before their arrests, would indicate whether or not Putin was "still calling all the shots".^[117]

On 24 September 2011, while speaking at the United Russia party congress, 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.^[118] This switch was termed by many in the media as "rokirovka", the Russian term for the chess move "castling". Medvedev said he himself would be ready to perform "practical work in the government". Putin accepted 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 Medvedev agreed to head, were to win in the upcoming Russian legislative election.^[119] The same day, the Russian Orthodox Church endorsed the proposal by President Medvedev to let Putin return to the post of president of Russia.^[120]

On 22 December 2011, in his last state of the nation address in Moscow, Medvedev called for comprehensive reform of Russia's political system — including restoring the election of regional governors and allowing half the seats in the State Duma to be directly elected in the regions. "I want to say that I hear those who talk about the need for change, and understand them", Medvedev said in an address to the Duma. "We need to give all active citizens the legal chance to participate in political life." However, the opposition to the ruling United Russia party of Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin dismissed the proposals as political posturing that failed to adequately address protesters who claimed 4 December election was rigged.^[121] On 7 May, on his last day in office, Medvedev signed the last documents as the head of state: in the sphere of civil society, protection of human rights and modernisation. He approved the list of instructions by the results of the meeting with the presidential council on civil society and human rights, which was held on 28 April. Medvedev also approved with his decree "Presidential programme for raising skills of engineers for 2012–2014" for modernisation and technological development of the Russian economy.^[122]

Discover more about Presidency (2008–12) related topics

Presidency of Dmitry Medvedev

Presidency of Dmitry Medvedev

The presidency of Dmitry Medvedev began on 8 May 2008, when he became the 3rd President of the Russian Federation. Medvedev was the Head of the Presidential Administration during the 2nd term of Vladimir Putin as president, and the Chairman of Gazprom oil company. Dmitry Medvedev was the youngest Russian leader since 1918, during his inauguration. Medvedev's main domestic agenda has been the wide-ranging Medvedev modernisation programme which aims at modernising Russia's economy and society. In particular, the massive Skolkovo innovation center, part of the modernisation programme, is often regarded as Medvedev's brainchild. Another important program has been the Russian police reform, launched by Medvedev in 2009, and led to the renaming of the Policing Organisation from Militsiya to police. In foreign policy, Medvedev assumed a more conciliatory tone than his predecessor, pursuing a closer relationship with the United States in general and with President Barack Obama in particular; The New START nuclear arms reduction treaty is regarded as Medvedev's main achievement in foreign affairs. Under Medvedev, Russia intervened on behalf of South Ossetia and Abkhazia after a Georgian military attack against the de facto independent regions, and emerged victorious in the ensuing five-day 2008 South Ossetia war. During Medvedev's tenure, Russia also struggled with and recovered from the serious late 2000s financial crisis. Other important decisions made by Medvedev include lowering the Duma election threshold from 7% to 5%, firing Moscow's powerful but criticised mayor Yuri Luzhkov, launching a large-scale privatisation of state-owned companies, removing state officials from the boards of state-owned companies and the extension of the Presidential term from four years to six.

Inauguration of Dmitry Medvedev

Inauguration of Dmitry Medvedev

Inauguration of Dmitry Medvedev as the President of Russia took place on Wednesday, May 7, 2008. The ceremony was held in the Grand Kremlin Palace and lasted about one hour.

Oath

Oath

Traditionally an oath is either a statement of fact or a promise taken by a sacrality as a sign of verity. A common legal substitute for those who conscientiously object to making sacred oaths is to give an affirmation instead. Nowadays, even when there is no notion of sanctity involved, certain promises said out loud in ceremonial or juridical purpose are referred to as oaths. "To swear" is a verb used to describe the taking of an oath, to making a solemn vow.

Grand Kremlin Palace

Grand Kremlin Palace

The Grand Kremlin Palace was built from 1837 to 1849 in Moscow, Russia, on the site of the estate of the Grand Princes, which had been established in the 14th century on Borovitsky Hill. Designed by a team of architects under the management of Konstantin Thon, it was intended to emphasise the greatness of Russian autocracy. Konstantin Thon was also the architect of the Kremlin Armoury and the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.

Decree of the President of Russia

Decree of the President of Russia

A Decree of the President of the Russian Federation or Executive Order (Decree) of the President of Russia is a legal act (ukase) with the status of a by-law made by the President of Russia.

Presidential Administration of Russia

Presidential Administration of Russia

The Presidential Executive Office of Russia or the Presidential Administration of Russia is the executive office of the President of Russia created by a decree of Boris Yeltsin on 19 July 1991 as an institution supporting the activity of the president and the vice-president of Russian SFSR, as well as deliberative bodies attached to the president, including the Security Council.

Prime Minister of Russia

Prime Minister of Russia

The chairman of the government of the Russian Federation, also informally known as the prime minister, is the head of government of Russia. Although the post dates back to 1905, its current form was established on 12 December 1993 following the introduction of a new constitution.

Communist Party of the Russian Federation

Communist Party of the Russian Federation

The Communist Party of the Russian Federation is a left-wing nationalist and communist political party in Russia that officially adheres to Marxist–Leninist philosophy. It is the second-largest political party in Russia after United Russia. The youth organisation of the party is the Leninist Young Communist League.

Justice

Justice

Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspectives, including the concepts of moral correctness based on ethics, rationality, law, religion, equity and fairness. The state will sometimes endeavor to increase justice by operating courts and enforcing their rulings.

Aleksandr Konovalov (politician, born 1968)

Aleksandr Konovalov (politician, born 1968)

Aleksandr Vladimirovich Konovalov is a Russian lawyer and politician. From May 2008 to January 2020, he served as Minister of Justice.

Leonid Reiman

Leonid Reiman

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Igor Shchyogolev

Igor Shchyogolev

Igor Olegovich Shchyogolev is a Russian politician. From May 2008 to 20 May 2012, he has served as the Russian Minister of Telecommunications.

First term

First Cabinet of Dmitry Medvedev

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.^[123][124] On 8 May 2012, the State Duma of the Russian Federation voted on the nomination submitted by the new president, and confirmed the choice of Medvedev to the post. Putin's United Russia party, now led by Medvedev, secured a majority of the Duma's seats in the 2011 legislative election, winning 49% of the vote, and 238 of the 450 seats. Medvedev's nomination to the office of prime minister was approved by the State Duma in a 299–144 vote.^[125]

First year

Medvedev with Latvian PM Valdis Dombrovskis, April 2013

Medvedev took office as prime minister of Russia also on 8 May 2012, after President Vladimir Putin signed the decree formalising his appointment to the office.^[126]

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. Medvedev was the first prime minister to represent Russia at a G-8 meeting. On 21 May 2012, his Cabinet was appointed and approved by the president. On 26 May, he was approved and officially appointed as the chairman of United Russia, the ruling party. Earlier in the same week Medvedev was officially joined the party and thereby became Russia's first prime minister affiliated to a political party.^[127]

Crimea

In the wake of the 2014 Ukrainian revolution, Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula. On 31 March 2014, Medvedev visited Crimea after the peninsula became part of Russia on 18 March. During his visit he announced the formation of the Federal Ministry for Crimea Affairs.^[128]

Second term

Medvedev at his confirmation hearing in the State Duma on 8 May 2018

On 7 May 2018, Dmitry Medvedev was nominated as prime minister by Vladimir Putin for another term.^[129] On 8 May, Medvedev was confirmed by the State Duma as prime minister, with 374 votes in favour.^[130] On 15 May, Putin approved the structure and on 18 May the composition of the Cabinet.^[131][132]

In March 2017, discontentment was triggered through Medvedev's depiction in an investigative film by the Anti-Corruption Foundation titled He Is Not Dimon to You. This sparked demonstrations in central Moscow, with the crowd chanting "Medvedev, resign!" as well as "Putin is a thief!"^[133] In the summer of 2018, country-wide protests took place against the retirement age hike introduced by Medvedev's government. The plan was unexpectedly announced by the government on 14 June, which coincided with the opening day of the 2018 FIFA World Cup hosted by Russia.^[134] As a result of the demonstrations, the ratings of Medvedev as well as President Putin significantly declined. Following the 2019 Siberia wildfires, Medvedev proposed revising regulatory acts on extinguishing fires in regions, and instructed to consult with foreign experts in developing proposals to fight with wildfires.^[135]

Resignation

Medvedev, along with his entire Cabinet, resigned on 15 January 2020 after Putin delivered the Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly, in which he proposed several amendments to the constitution. 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.^[136] Medvedev said that the constitutional changes would "significantly change Russia's balance of power".^[137][138] Putin accepted the resignation.^[139]

Although Medvedev had ostensibly resigned voluntarily (part 1 of Article 117 of the constitution),^[140][141] the Executive Order that was released stated that Putin had dismissed the cabinet as per Article 83 (c) and part 2 of Article 117 of the constitution.^[142][143] Kommersant reported that the use of these sections revealed that it was Putin who had sacked Medvedev and that the resignation was not voluntary but forced, since these sections give power to the president to dissolve the government without explanation or motivation.^[144]

Putin suggested that Medvedev take the post of deputy chairman of the Security Council.^[138]

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2011 Russian legislative election

2011 Russian legislative election

Legislative elections were held in Russia on 4 December 2011. At stake were the 450 seats in the 6th State Duma, the lower house of the Federal Assembly. United Russia won the elections with 49.32% of the vote, taking 238 seats or 52.88% of the Duma seats.

Valdis Dombrovskis

Valdis Dombrovskis

Valdis Dombrovskis is a Latvian politician serving as Executive Vice President of the European Commission for An Economy that Works for People since 2019 and European Commissioner for Trade since 2020. He previously served as European Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union from 2016 to 2020 and Prime Minister of Latvia from 2009 to 2014.

38th G8 summit

38th G8 summit

The 38th G8 summit was held in Camp David, Maryland, United States, on 18–19 May 2012.

Camp David

Camp David

Camp David is the 125-acre (51 ha) country retreat for the President of the United States. It is located in the wooded hills of Catoctin Mountain Park, in Frederick County, Maryland, near the towns of Thurmont and Emmitsburg, about 62 miles (100 km) north-northwest of the national capital city of Washington, D.C. It is officially known as the Naval Support Facility Thurmont. Because it is technically a military installation, the staffing is primarily provided by the Seabees, Civil Engineer Corps (CEC), the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps. Naval construction battalions are tasked with base construction and send detachments as needed.

Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation

Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation

In February and March 2014, Russia invaded and subsequently annexed the Crimean Peninsula, taking it from Ukraine. This event took place in the aftermath of the Revolution of Dignity and is part of the wider Russo-Ukrainian War.

2017–2018 Russian protests

2017–2018 Russian protests

The 2017–2018 Russian protests were a long series of countrywide street protest actions and demonstrations in the Russian Federation, which were primarily concerned with suppressing corruption in the Russian government and abandoning the planned retirement age hike.

Anti-Corruption Foundation

Anti-Corruption Foundation

The Anti-Corruption Foundation is a non-profit organization established in 2011 by Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny. The FBK published investigations into alleged corruption by high-ranking Russian government officials. The organisation was funded by private donations.

2018 Russian pension protests

2018 Russian pension protests

The 2018 Russian pension protests were a series of country-wide protests and demonstrations in Russia demanding abandoning of the retirement age hike.

2018 FIFA World Cup

2018 FIFA World Cup

The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting rights in 2010. It was the eleventh time the championships had been held in Europe, and the first time they were held in Eastern Europe. At an estimated cost of over $14.2 billion, it was the most expensive World Cup ever held until it was surpassed by the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly

Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly

The annual Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly is a speech given by the Russian President to outline the state and condition in which Russia is in. It is given in front of a joint meeting of the two houses of the Russian Parliament: the State Duma and Federation Council. Article 84 of the current Constitution of Russia enacted in 1993 says "The President of the Russian Federation shall: address the Federal Assembly with annual messages on the situation in the country, on the guidelines of the internal and foreign policy of the State". First Russian President Boris Yeltsin delivered the first Address to the Federal Assembly on 24 February 1994. The date of the presidential address is not fixed.

Kommersant

Kommersant

Kommersant is a nationally distributed daily newspaper published in Russia mostly devoted to politics and business. The TNS Media and NRS Russia certified July 2013 circulation of the daily was 120,000–130,000. It is owned by Alisher Usmanov.

Security Council of Russia

Security Council of Russia

The Security Council of the Russian Federation is a constitutional consultative body of the Russian president that supports the president's decision-making on national security affairs and matters of strategic interest. Composed of Russia's top state officials and heads of defence and security agencies and chaired by the president of Russia, the SCRF acts as a forum for coordinating and integrating national security policy.

On 16 January 2020, Medvedev was appointed to the post of deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia.^[145] His salary was set at 618,713 rubles (8,723.85 USD).^[146] In a July interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda, Medvedev said he retains "good friendly relations" with President Putin, which was in contrast with the opinion of many circles that his departure from the role of prime minister was a result of a rift in the domestic policies of the two.^[147]

Russian invasion of 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, Medvedev stated that while the decision to suspend Russia was "unfair", it was also a "good opportunity" to reinstate the death penalty in Russia.^[148][149] He also 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.^[150]

On 6 July 2022, Medvedev wrote on Telegram that it would be "crazy to create tribunals or courts for the so-called investigation of Russia's actions", claiming the idea of "punishing a country that has one of the largest nuclear potentials" may potentially pose "a threat to the existence of humanity." Medvedev accused the United States of creating "chaos and devastation around the world under the guise of 'true democracy'", concluding his message by saying "the US and its useless stooges should remember the words of the Bible: 'Judge not, lest you be judged; so that one day the great day of His wrath will not come to their house, and who can stand?'"^[151]

On 27 July 2022, 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.^[152][153]

Medvedev was interviewed at length by Darius Rochebin of French TV broadcaster La Chaîne Info on 27 August 2022.^[154]

In September 2022 Medvedev said that any weapons in Russia's arsenal, including strategic nuclear weapons, could be used to protect territories annexed to Russia from Ukraine. He also 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".^[155][156] Later that month he said that Russia had the right to defend itself with nuclear weapons and that this was "certainly not a bluff".^[157] The bluff comments were interpreted by a reputable news agency as "Medvedev raises spectre of Russian nuclear strike on Ukraine".^[158]

On 4 November 2022 on the occasion of Russia's Day of National Unity state holiday, Medvedev thought that Russia "was fighting a sacred battle against Satan" who uses "intricate lies. And our weapon is the truth. That is why our cause is right. That is why victory will be ours!" The Ukrainians were "crazy Nazi drug addicts" backed by Westerners who he said had "saliva running down their chins from degeneracy".^[159][160]

In November 2022 Medvedev was quoted as saying on his Telegram app channel that the Ukrainian desire to recapture the territory it had lost to Russia in the annexations "is a threat to the existence of our state and of a dismemberment of today’s Russia," and "direct reason" to use Russia’s nuclear weapons; something the reporter termed "worrying language".^[161] In the same month another journalist quoted him as saying "Russia, for obvious reasons, has not yet used its entire arsenal of possible weapons, equipment and munitions. And did not attack all possible enemy targets located in populated areas. And not only from our inherent human kindness. Everything has its time."^[162][157]

On 14 January 2023 Medvedev said that Japanese PM Fumio Kishida should disembowel himself by seppuku because the former was evidently frustrated by Kishida's joint statement with US President Joe Biden that "We state unequivocally that any use of a nuclear weapon by Russia in Ukraine would be an act of hostility against humanity and unjustifiable in any way."^[163]

On 20 March 2023, in response to the ICC issuing a warrant for Putin, 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."^[164]

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Komsomolskaya Pravda

Komsomolskaya Pravda

Komsomolskaya Pravda is a daily Russian tabloid newspaper that was founded in 1925.

Council of Europe

Council of Europe

The Council of Europe is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it has 46 member states, with a population of approximately 675 million; it operates with an annual budget of approximately 500 million euros.

Capital punishment in Russia

Capital punishment in Russia

Capital punishment is a legal penalty in Russia, but is not used due to a moratorium and no death sentences or executions have occurred since 2 August 1996. Russia has a moratorium implicitly established by President Boris Yeltsin in 1996, and explicitly established by the Constitutional Court of Russia in 1999 and reaffirmed in 2009.

New START

New START

New START is a nuclear arms reduction treaty between the United States and the Russian Federation with the formal name of Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms. It was signed on 8 April 2010 in Prague, and after ratification it entered into force on 5 February 2011.

Darius Rochebin

Darius Rochebin

Darius Rochebin, born Darius Khoshbin on 25 December 1966 in Geneva, is a Swiss journalist of Iranian origin. From 1998 to 2020, he presented the newscast of the national broadcaster Radio Télévision Suisse (RTS) as well as the RTS program Pardonnez-moi, which interviews Swiss and international personalities. In August 2020, he left RTS and joined the French channel LCI to carry out daily interviews.

La Chaîne Info

La Chaîne Info

La Chaîne Info is a French free-to-air news channel. It is part of TF1 Group.

2022 annexation referendums in Russian-occupied Ukraine

2022 annexation referendums in Russian-occupied Ukraine

In late September 2022, in the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian-installed officials in Ukraine staged referendums on the annexation of occupied territories of Ukraine by Russia. They were widely described as sham referendums by commentators and denounced by various countries. Currently, the validity of the results of the referendums has only been accepted by North Korea, and no other sovereign state.

Unity Day (Russia)

Unity Day (Russia)

Unity Day is a national holiday in Russia held on 4 November [O.S. 22 October]. It commemorates the popular uprising which expelled Polish–Lithuanian occupation forces from Moscow by a militia from Nizhny Novgorod in November 1612, and more generally the end of the Time of Troubles and turning point of the Polish-Russian War (1605–1618).

Fumio Kishida

Fumio Kishida

Fumio Kishida is a Japanese politician serving as prime minister of Japan and president of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) since 2021. A member of the House of Representatives, he previously served as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2012 to 2017 and as acting Minister of Defense in 2017. From 2017 to 2020, he also chaired the LDP Policy Research Council.

Seppuku

Seppuku

Seppuku , also called hara-kiri, is a form of Japanese ritualistic suicide by disembowelment. While harakiri refers to the act of disemboweling one's self, seppuku refers to the ritual and usually would involve decapitation after the act as a sign of mercy. Harakiri refers solely to the act of disembowelment and would only be assigned as a punishment towards acts deemed too heinous for seppuku. It was originally reserved for samurai in their code of honour, but was also practiced by other Japanese people during the Shōwa period to restore honour for themselves or for their families. As a samurai practice, seppuku was used voluntarily by samurai to die with honour rather than fall into the hands of their enemies, as a form of capital punishment for samurai who had committed serious offences, or performed because they had brought shame to themselves. The ceremonial disembowelment, which is usually part of a more elaborate ritual and performed in front of spectators, consists of plunging a short blade, traditionally a tantō, into the belly and drawing the blade from left to right, slicing the belly open. If the cut is deep enough, it can sever the abdominal aorta, causing a rapid death by blood loss.

Joe Biden

Joe Biden

Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. is an American politician who is the 46th and current president of the United States. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 47th vice president from 2009 to 2017 under President Barack Obama, and represented Delaware in the United States Senate from 1973 to 2009.

Child abductions in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine

Child abductions in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine

During the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia has forcibly transferred thousands of Ukrainian children to areas under its control, assigned them Russian citizenship, forcibly adopted them into Russian families, and created obstacles for their reunification with their parents and homeland. Evidence of this has been collected during investigations conducted by several international organizations and groups, including the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, The International Criminal Court and Amnesty International, and by journalists for media outlets such as The Observer. The United Nations has stated that these deportations constitute war crimes. The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for President Vladimir Putin and Children's Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova for their alleged involvement. According to international law, including the 1948 Genocide Convention, such acts constitute genocide if done with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a nation or ethnic group.

In response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, on 6 April 2022 the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the United States Department of the Treasury added Medvedev to its list of persons sanctioned pursuant to Executive Order 14024.^[165]

Sanctioned by New Zealand in relation to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.^[166]

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Office of Foreign Assets Control

Office of Foreign Assets Control

The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is a financial intelligence and enforcement agency of the U.S. Treasury Department. It administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions in support of U.S. national security and foreign policy objectives. Under Presidential national emergency powers, OFAC carries out its activities against foreign states as well as a variety of other organizations and individuals, like terrorist groups, deemed to be a threat to U.S. national security.

United States Department of the Treasury

United States Department of the Treasury

The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the U.S. Mint. These two agencies are responsible for printing all paper currency and coins, while the treasury executes its circulation in the domestic fiscal system. The USDT collects all federal taxes through the Internal Revenue Service; manages U.S. government debt instruments; licenses and supervises banks and thrift institutions; and advises the legislative and executive branches on matters of fiscal policy. The department is administered by the secretary of the treasury, who is a member of the Cabinet. The treasurer of the United States has limited statutory duties, but advises the Secretary on various matters such as coinage and currency production. Signatures of both officials appear on all Federal Reserve notes.

Executive order

Executive order

In the United States, an executive order is a directive by the president of the United States that manages operations of the federal government. The legal or constitutional basis for executive orders has multiple sources. Article Two of the United States Constitution gives presidents broad executive and enforcement authority to use their discretion to determine how to enforce the law or to otherwise manage the resources and staff of the executive branch. The ability to make such orders is also based on expressed or implied Acts of Congress that delegate to the president some degree of discretionary power. The vast majority of executive orders are proposed by federal agencies before being issued by the president.

Dmitry Medvedev and his wife Svetlana Medvedeva in 2008

Medvedev is married and has a son, Ilya Dmitrevich Medvedev (born 1995). His wife, Svetlana Vladimirovna Medvedeva, was both his childhood friend and school sweetheart. They married several years after their graduation from secondary school in 1982.^[167]

Medvedev is a fan of British hard rock, listing Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd, and Deep Purple as his favourite bands. He is a collector of their original vinyl records and has previously said that he has collected all of the recordings of Deep Purple.^[168] As a youth, he made copies of their records, even though these bands were then on the official state-issued blacklist.^[169] In February 2008, Medvedev and Sergei Ivanov attended a Deep Purple concert in Moscow together.^[170]

During a visit to Serbia, Medvedev received the highest award of the Serbian Orthodox Church, the Order of St. Sava, for "his contribution to the unity of the world Orthodoxy and his love to the Serbian people."^[171]

Medvedev always reserves an hour each morning and again each evening to swim^[168] and weight train. He swims 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) twice a day. He also jogs, plays chess, and practices yoga. Among his hobbies are reading the works of Mikhail Bulgakov and he is also a fan of the Harry Potter series after asking J. K. Rowling for her autograph when they met during the G-20 London Summit in April 2009.^[172] He is also a fan of football and follows his hometown professional football team, FC Zenit Saint Petersburg.^[173]

Medvedev with current members of Deep Purple in 2011

Medvedev is an avid amateur photographer. In January 2010, one of his photographs was sold at a charity auction for 51 million rubles (US$1,750,000), making it one of the most expensive ever sold.^[174] The photo was purchased by Mikhail Zingarevich, a co-founder and member of the board of directors of the Ilim Group at which Medvedev worked as a lawyer in the 90s.^[175]

Medvedev's reported 2007 annual income was $80,000, and he reported approximately the same amount as bank savings. Medvedev's wife reported no savings or income. They live in an upscale apartment house "Zolotye Klyuchi" in Moscow.^[176] Despite this supposedly modest income, a video by anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny^[177] purports to show "the vast trove of mansions, villas and vineyards accumulated" by Medvedev.^[178]

On the Russian-language Internet, Medvedev is sometimes associated with the Medved meme, linked to padonki slang, which resulted in many ironic and satirical writings and cartoons that blend Medvedev with a bear. (The word medved means "bear" in Russian and the surname "Medvedev" is a patronymic which means "of the bears".) Medvedev is familiar with this phenomenon and takes no offence, stating that the web meme has the right to exist.^{[179][180][181][182]}

Medvedev speaks English, in addition to his native Russian,^[183] but during interviews he speaks only Russian.^[184]

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Hard rock

Hard rock

Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard rock music was produced by the Kinks, the Who, the Rolling Stones, Cream, Vanilla Fudge, and the Jimi Hendrix Experience. In the late 1960s, bands such as Blue Cheer, the Jeff Beck Group, Iron Butterfly, Led Zeppelin, Golden Earring, Steppenwolf and Deep Purple also produced hard rock.

Led Zeppelin

Led Zeppelin

Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist and keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are cited as one of the progenitors of hard rock and heavy metal, although their style drew from a variety of influences, including blues and folk music. Led Zeppelin have been credited as significantly impacting the nature of the music industry, particularly in the development of album-oriented rock (AOR) and stadium rock.

Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath were an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. They are often cited as pioneers of heavy metal music. The band helped define the genre with releases such as Black Sabbath (1970), Paranoid (1970) and Master of Reality (1971). The band had multiple line-up changes following Osbourne's departure in 1979 and Iommi is the only constant member throughout their history.

Pink Floyd

Pink Floyd

Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philosophical lyrics and elaborate live shows. They became a leading band of the progressive rock genre, cited by some as the greatest progressive rock band of all time.

Deep Purple

Deep Purple

Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, but their musical approach has changed over the years. Originally formed as a psychedelic rock and progressive rock band, they shifted to a heavier sound with their 1970 album Deep Purple in Rock. Deep Purple, together with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, have been referred to as the "unholy trinity of British hard rock and heavy metal in the early to mid-seventies". They were listed in the 1975 Guinness Book of World Records as "the globe's loudest band" for a 1972 concert at London's Rainbow Theatre and have sold over 100 million albums worldwide.

Censorship in the Soviet Union

Censorship in the Soviet Union

Censorship in the Soviet Union was pervasive and strictly enforced.

Serbian Orthodox Church

Serbian Orthodox Church

The Serbian Orthodox Church is one of the autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Christian churches.

Order of St. Sava

Order of St. Sava

The Royal Order of St. Sava is an Order of merit, first awarded by the Kingdom of Serbia in 1883 and later by the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. It was awarded to nationals and foreigners for meritorious achievements in the field of religion, education, science and the arts as well as for social and relief work. The order was abolished in 1945 with the proclamation of the People’s Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the end of the monarchy.

Mikhail Bulgakov

Mikhail Bulgakov

Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov was a Russian, later Soviet writer, medical doctor, and playwright active in the first half of the 20th century. He is best known for his novel The Master and Margarita, published posthumously, which has been called one of the masterpieces of the 20th century.

Harry Potter

Harry Potter

Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young wizard, Harry Potter, and his friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The main story arc concerns Harry's conflict with Lord Voldemort, a dark wizard who intends to become immortal, overthrow the wizard governing body known as the Ministry of Magic and subjugate all wizards and Muggles.

J. K. Rowling

J. K. Rowling

Joanne Rowling, also known by her pen name J. K. Rowling, is a British author and philanthropist. She wrote Harry Potter, a seven-volume children's fantasy series published from 1997 to 2007. The series has sold over 600 million copies, been translated into 84 languages, and spawned a global media franchise including films and video games. The Casual Vacancy (2012) was her first novel for adults. She writes Cormoran Strike, an ongoing crime fiction series, under the alias Robert Galbraith.

Association football

Association football

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel a ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is to score more goals than the opposite team by moving the ball beyond the goal line into a rectangular-framed goal defended by the opposing side. Traditionally, the game has been played over two 45-minute halves, for a total match time of 90 minutes. With an estimated 250 million players active in over 200 countries and territories, it is considered the world's most popular sport.

Anti-corruption rally in Saint Petersburg, 26 March 2017

In September 2016, opposition leader Alexei Navalny published a report with information about Dmitry Medvedev's alleged summer residence ("dacha") – an 80 hectare estate with plethora of houses, a ski run, a cascading swimming pool, three helipads and purpose-built communications towers. The estate even includes a house for ducks, which received public ridicule and led to ducks becoming a protest symbol in Russia a year later.^[185] The area is surrounded by a six-foot (1.82 meter) fence and is allegedly 30 times the size of Red Square, the iconic square in Moscow.^[186] This summer residence is an expensively renovated 18th century manor called Milovka Estate and located in Plyos on the shore of Volga River.^[187]

In March 2017, Navalny and the Anti-Corruption Foundation published another in-depth investigation of properties and residences used by Medvedev and his family. A report called He Is Not Dimon To You shows how Medvedev allegedly owns and controls large areas of land, villas, palaces, yachts, expensive apartments, wineries and estates through complicated ownership structures involving shell companies and foundations.^[188] Their total value is estimated at around US$1.2 billion. The report states that the original source of wealth is gifts by Russian oligarchs and loans from state owned banks. An hour long YouTube video in Russian was released together with the report. A month after release, the video had more than 24 million views.^[189] Medvedev dismissed the allegations, calling them "nonsense".^[190] These revelations have resulted in large protests throughout Russia. Russian authorities responded by arresting protesters in unauthorised protests—hundreds were arrested including Alexei Navalny, which the government called "an illegal provocation".^[191] An April 2017 Levada poll found that 45% of surveyed Russians supported the resignation of Medvedev.^[192]

Discover more about Corruption allegations related topics

2017–2018 Russian protests

2017–2018 Russian protests

The 2017–2018 Russian protests were a long series of countrywide street protest actions and demonstrations in the Russian Federation, which were primarily concerned with suppressing corruption in the Russian government and abandoning the planned retirement age hike.

Alexei Navalny

Alexei Navalny

Alexei Anatolievich Navalny is a Russian opposition leader, lawyer, and anti-corruption activist. He has organised anti-government demonstrations and run for office to advocate reforms against corruption in Russia, and against president Vladimir Putin and his government, who avoids referring directly to Navalny by name. Navalny was a Russian Opposition Coordination Council member. He is the leader of the Russia of the Future party and founder of the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK). He is recognised by Amnesty International as a prisoner of conscience, and was awarded the Sakharov Prize for his work on human rights.

Dacha

Dacha

A dacha is a seasonal or year-round second home, often located in the exurbs of post-Soviet countries, including Russia. A cottage or shack serving as a family's main or only home, or an outbuilding, is not considered a dacha, although some dachas recently have been converted to year-round residences and vice versa.

Red Square

Red Square

Red Square is one of the oldest and largest squares in Moscow, the capital of Russia. Owing to its historical significance and the adjacent historical buildings, it is regarded as one of the most famous squares in Europe and the world. It is located in Moscow's historic centre, in the eastern walls of the Kremlin. It is the city landmark of Moscow, with iconic buildings such as Saint Basil's Cathedral, Lenin's Mausoleum and the GUM. In addition, it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1990.

Plyos, Ivanovo Oblast

Plyos, Ivanovo Oblast

Plyos is a town in Privolzhsky District of Ivanovo Oblast, Russia, located on the right bank of the Volga River, 70 kilometers (43 mi) northeast of Ivanovo, the administrative center of the oblast. Population: 1,896 (2021 Census); 2,340 (2010 Census); 2,790 (2002 Census); 4,053 (1989 Census).

Anti-Corruption Foundation

Anti-Corruption Foundation

The Anti-Corruption Foundation is a non-profit organization established in 2011 by Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny. The FBK published investigations into alleged corruption by high-ranking Russian government officials. The organisation was funded by private donations.

Levada Center

Levada Center

The Levada Center is a Russian independent, nongovernmental polling and sociological research organization. It is named after its founder, the first Russian professor of sociology Yuri Levada (1930–2006). The center traces back its history to 1987 when the All-Union Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM) was founded under the leadership of academician Tatyana Zaslavskaya. Being one of the largest Russian research companies, the Levada Center regularly conducts its own and commissioned polling and marketing research. In 2016, it was labelled a foreign agent under the 2012 Russian foreign agent law.

Medvedev wrote two short articles on the subject of his doctoral dissertation in Russian law journals. He is also one of the authors of a textbook on civil law for universities first published in 1991 (the 6th edition of Civil Law. In 3 Volumes. was published in 2007). He 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. He is also 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". This work considers the Russian Federal law on the civil service,^[193] which went into effect on 27 July 2004, from multiple perspectives — scholarly, jurisprudential, practical, enforcement- and implementation-related.^[194]

In October 2008, President Medvedev delivered the first podcast at the presidential website.^[195] His videoblog posts have also been posted in the official LiveJournal community blog_medvedev^[196]

On 23 June 2011, Medvedev participated in launching of the "Eternal Values" project of RIA Novosti state-operated news agency together with Russian chapter of Wikimedia Foundation. RIA Novosti granted free Creative Commons licences to one hundred of its images, while Medvedev registered as Dmitry Medvedev for RIAN and personally uploaded one of those photographs to Wikimedia Commons.^[197][198]

On 13 April 2009, Medvedev gave a major interview to the Novaya Gazeta newspaper. The interview was the first one he had ever given to a Russian print publication and covered such issues as civil society and the social contract, transparency of public officials and Internet development.^[199][200]

• Medvedev, Dmitry (2012). President Dmitry Medvedev. Photo book.

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Latin America

Latin America

Latin America is a cultural concept denoting the Americas where Romance languages—languages derived from Latin—are predominantly spoken. The term was coined in the nineteenth century, to refer to regions in the Americas that were ruled by the Spanish, Portuguese and French empires. The term does not have a precise definition, but it is "commonly used to describe South America, Central America, Mexico, and the islands of the Caribbean." In a narrow sense, it refers to Spanish America, Brazil, French West Indies and French Antillean Creole speaking Caribbean countries. The term "Latin America" is broader than categories such as Hispanic America, which specifically refers to Spanish-speaking countries; and Ibero-America, a term not generally used that specifically refers to Spanish, French and French Creole-speaking countries and Portuguese-speaking countries sometimes leaving French and British excolonies aside.

Private law

Private law

Private law is that part of a civil law legal system which is part of the jus commune that involves relationships between individuals, such as the law of contracts and torts, and the law of obligations. It is to be distinguished from public law, which deals with relationships between both natural and artificial persons and the state, including regulatory statutes, penal law and other law that affects the public order. In general terms, private law involves interactions between private individuals, whereas public law involves interrelations between the state and the general population.

Social policy

Social policy

Social policy is a plan or action of government or institutional agencies which aim to improve or reform society.

Economic development

Economic development

In the economics study of the public sector, economic and social development is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and objectives.

Federal law

Federal law

Federal law is the body of law created by the federal government of a country. A federal government is formed when a group of political units, such as states or provinces join in a federation, delegating their individual sovereignty and many powers to the central government while retaining or reserving other limited powers. As a result, two or more levels of government exist within an established geographic territory. The body of law of the common central government is the federal law.

Jurisprudence

Jurisprudence

The term Jurisprudence is almost synonymous with legal theory and legal philosophy. Jurisprudence as scholarship is principally concerned with what, in general, law is and ought to be. That includes questions of how persons and social relations are understood in legal terms, and of the values in and of law. Work that is counted as jurisprudence is mostly philosophical, but it includes work that also belongs to other disciplines, such as sociology, history, politics and economics.

LiveJournal

LiveJournal

LiveJournal, stylised as LiVEJOURNAL, is a Russian-owned social networking service where users can keep a blog, journal, or diary. American programmer Brad Fitzpatrick started LiveJournal on April 15, 1999, as a way of keeping his high school friends updated on his activities. In January 2005, American blogging software company Six Apart purchased Danga Interactive, the company that operated LiveJournal, from Fitzpatrick.

RIA Novosti

RIA Novosti

RIA Novosti, sometimes referred to as RIAN (РИАН) or RIA (РИА) is a Russian state-owned domestic news agency. On 9 December 2013 by a decree of Vladimir Putin it was liquidated and its assets and workforce were transferred to the newly created Rossiya Segodnya agency. On 8 April 2014, RIA Novosti was registered as part of the new agency.

Wikimedia Foundation

Wikimedia Foundation

The Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., or Wikimedia for short and abbreviated as WMF, is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization headquartered in San Francisco, California and registered as a charitable foundation under local laws. Best known as the hosting platform for Wikipedia, a crowdsourced online encyclopedia, it also hosts other related projects and MediaWiki, a wiki software.

Creative Commons

Creative Commons

Creative Commons (CC) is an American non-profit organization and international network devoted to educational access and expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright licenses, known as Creative Commons licenses, free of charge to the public. These licenses allow authors of creative works to communicate which rights they reserve and which rights they waive for the benefit of recipients or other creators. An easy-to-understand one-page explanation of rights, with associated visual symbols, explains the specifics of each Creative Commons license. Content owners still maintain their copyright, but Creative Commons licenses give standard releases that replace the individual negotiations for specific rights between copyright owner (licensor) and licensee, that are necessary under an "all rights reserved" copyright management.

Wikimedia Commons

Wikimedia Commons

Wikimedia Commons is a media repository of free-to-use images, sounds, videos and other media. It is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation.

Novaya Gazeta

Novaya Gazeta

Novaya Gazeta is an independent Russian newspaper known for its critical and investigative coverage of Russian political and social affairs. It is published in Moscow, in regions within Russia, and in some foreign countries. The print edition is published on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays; English-language articles on the website are published on a weekly basis in the form of the Russia, Explained newsletter.

Presidential election

Prime minister nominations

Discover more about Electoral history related topics

2008 Russian presidential election

2008 Russian presidential election

Presidential elections were held in Russia on 2 March 2008, and resulted in the election of Dmitry Medvedev as the third President of Russia. Medvedev was elected for a four-year term, whose candidacy was supported by incumbent president Vladimir Putin and five political parties, received 71% of the vote, and defeated Gennady Zyuganov of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, and Vladimir Zhirinovsky of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia.

United Russia

United Russia

United Russia is a Russian conservative political party. As the largest party in Russia, it holds 325 of the 450 seats in the State Duma as of 2022, having constituted the majority in the chamber since 2007. The party was formed in December 2001 through a merger of Unity, Fatherland – All Russia and the Agrarian Party of Russia.

Gennady Zyuganov

Gennady Zyuganov

Gennady Andreyevich Zyuganov is a Russian politician, who has been the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and served as Member of the State Duma since 1993. He is also the Chair of the Union of Communist Parties – Communist Party of the Soviet Union (UCP-CPSU) since 2001.

Communist Party of the Russian Federation

Communist Party of the Russian Federation

The Communist Party of the Russian Federation is a left-wing nationalist and communist political party in Russia that officially adheres to Marxist–Leninist philosophy. It is the second-largest political party in Russia after United Russia. The youth organisation of the party is the Leninist Young Communist League.

Vladimir Zhirinovsky

Vladimir Zhirinovsky

Vladimir Volfovich Zhirinovsky was a Russian right-wing populist politician and the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) from its creation in 1992 until his death. He had been a member of the State Duma since 1993 and leader of the LDPR group in the State Duma from 1993 to 2000, and from 2011 to 2022.

Liberal Democratic Party of Russia

Liberal Democratic Party of Russia

LDPR — Liberal Democratic Party of Russia is a right-wing populist and ultranationalist political party in Russia. It succeeded the Liberal Democratic Party of the Soviet Union (LDPSU) in Russia after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The party was led by Vladimir Zhirinovsky since its inception until his death in April 2022. Opposing both communism and neoliberal capitalism of the 1990s, and advocating for monarchism albeit in a constitutional form, the party scored a major success in the 1993 Duma elections with almost 23% of the vote, giving it 64 seats of the 450 seats in the State Duma. In the 2021 elections, the party received 7.55% of the vote, giving it 21 seats.

Andrei Vladimirovich Bogdanov

Andrei Vladimirovich Bogdanov

Andrey Vladimirovich Bogdanov is a Russian politician. He is the chairman of the Russian Party of Freedom and Justice and a prominent Freemason, serving as Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Russia since 2007. As a candidate for the 2008 presidential election, he received 968,344 votes or 1.30% of the Russian electorate.

Democratic Party of Russia

Democratic Party of Russia

The Democratic Party of Russia or DPR is a conservative Russian political party that was founded in 1990. Under the leadership of Andrey Bogdanov, the party advocated the entry of Russia into the European Union. In 2008, the party merged with several others to form the Right Cause. It was re-established as a party and officially registered again in 2012.