Putin's hater of the West: Medvedev was once considered a liberal hope - a much-cited joke shows his loyalty to the Kremlin

Created: 06/08/2022, 05:00

The politician loyal to Putin, Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev, was both President and Prime Minister of Russia (stock image, July 2022).

© IMAGO/Ramil Sitdikov/ SNA

Since the start of the Ukraine war, Dmitry Medvedev, the former President of Russia, has repeatedly made provocative statements.

But who is the ex-Kremlin chief and what role does he play in Russia?

Moscow - A nuclear strike, Ukraine disappearing from the map or opponents of Russia as "degenerate people" - Dmitry Medvedev has been using sharp words against the West since the beginning of the Ukraine war.

The Saint Petersburg-born lawyer with no KGB past was once considered a beacon of liberal hope, but this view of the ex-president has changed over time.

Dmitry Medvedev: From the middle class in Saint Petersburg to the President of Russia

Dmitry Medvedev comes from a middle-class family in Saint Petersburg and, unlike Putin, has no KGB past.

Medvedev studied law and received his doctorate in 1990.

Initially he worked at Leningrad State University, but soon established connections in politics.

For example, he was an adviser to the then deputy mayor of St. Petersburg, Vladimir Putin.

The two rulers have known each other for a long time.

The current head of the Kremlin is said to have placed great value on Medvedev's advice at the time.

When Putin was no longer allowed to run for president in 2008 - the Russian constitution only allowed for two terms - he proposed Dmitry Medvedev as his preferred successor.

It was the least experienced of the three potential candidates, but Putin's most loyal companion, writes

.

This factor was crucial, after all it was only intended to serve as a placeholder to ensure Putin's subsequent return to power.

From 2008 to 2012 Medvedev was President of the Russian Federation, after which he was appointed Prime Minister of Russia (2012-2020) and Chairman of the Kremlin party United Russia (also: United Russia).

Since 2000 he has also been a member of the supervisory board of the Russian state-owned company Gazprom, which he headed from 2002 to 2008.

Medvedev is married and has a son.

Medvedev vacates posts to ensure Putin stays in power until 2036

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev at a military ceremony on July 17, 2022. He has been the leader of the United Russia party since 2012.

© IMAGO/Dmitry Rogulin/ITAR-TASS

Medvedev is still party leader at United Russia, but he vacated his post as prime minister in 2020 and has been vice president of the Security Council since then.

Vladimir Putin announced in 2020 that he wanted to give parliament more power through constitutional reform - and thus also secured his own hold on power.

"We, as the government of the Russian Federation, should give the President of our country the opportunity to make all the necessary decisions," Medvedev said at the time.

In a controversial referendum, Russian voters voted in favor of a constitutional amendment allowing Putin two more terms after his current mandate expires in 2024.

In 2021, Putin signed a law that would allow him to govern until 2036.

That is why Medvedev was at times seen as a beacon of liberal hope

Initially, Medvedev's views were considered comparatively liberal.

As a teenager, the former president of Russia was reportedly a rock music fan and dreamed of owning Wrangler jeans,

reports .

The politician, who is considered to be tech-savvy, had a Twitter account and campaigned in the 2008 presidential election campaign with the slogan “Freedom is better than bondage”.

writes that he was the only Kremlin politician who dared to publicly criticize the breakup of the oil company Yukos

.

At first, political observers hoped that Medvedev could take a more liberal course - even though it was actually clear that Putin would continue to pull the strings.

Medvedev announced that he wanted to fight corruption in the country and for an independent judiciary, spoke of a "modernization partnership" with the West and economic reforms.

However, these statements by the then president soon turned out to be lip service.

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In 2012, Russia was still present at the G8 meetings.

At that time, Medvedev represented the Russian Federation at the informal meeting, but Putin declined.

© IMAGO / Everett Collection

Medvedev is considered too loyal to the Kremlin and at the same time too weak in opinion to stand up to Putin.

A much-cited joke about the former president is intended to illustrate his hesitation: “The Kremlin is divided into two camps, between Putin and Medvedev.

The only question is which camp Medvedev himself will join.” At times he was discussed on social media under the hashtag “pathetic”, which prompted his spokeswoman Natalya Timakova to take action.

Calling Dmitry Medvedev "Dimon" is unacceptable, she said.

"To you he is not Dimon, he is the Prime Minister," the spokeswoman said at the time.

The nickname Dimon was also alluded to in Navalny's later reveal video "For you he's not a Dimon".

Burger meal with the US President: Medvedev and Obama sign nuclear agreement

On a burger with the Russian President: What sounds like a utopia during the Ukraine war was a real scene in 2010 between Dmitry Medvedev and then US President Barack Obama.

© picture alliance / dpa |

Mikhail Klimentyev/ria Novosti/k

What sounded like a utopia at the time of the Ukraine war was a real scene between Dmitri Medvedev and the then US President Barack Obama in 2010: They ate burgers together and chatted casually.

The seemingly friendly relationship between the leaders soon brought real results.

Medvedev and Obama signed a follow-up agreement to Start, a nuclear disarmament program.

It was considered the most comprehensive nuclear agreement in two decades and thus a milestone.

Obama then thanked his “friend and partner” Medvedev for the good cooperation.

The Kremlin chief, however, described the agreement as "historic".

However, the harmony was disturbed by the end of 2011 at the latest, when the USA spoke of allegations of fraud in the elections in Russia.

"I was forced to tell President Barack Obama on the phone yesterday that the US assessment of our elections has no meaning for us," Medvedev said, according to the Interfax agency.

"Cold War tones" are unacceptable, added the then-Russian president.

In 2012, Medvedev represented Russia at the informal G8 meeting in the United States.

Because of the formation of the government, Putin was too busy to travel himself, it was said at the time.

Putin mouthpiece: These are Medvedev's radical views today

Since the end of his term as Prime Minister in 2020, not much has been heard from the former head of state of Russia, observers considered him a "political corpse".

But since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Medvedev has repeatedly expressed himself in extreme ways.

His motives are not entirely clear.

"Perhaps he was told that he should speak out publicly," suspects political scientist Yuri Korgonyuk, "perhaps he wants to remind himself that he still exists." The historian Timothy Snyder sees Medvedev's extreme statements as preparations for a time after Putin: "He creates a profile that could be useful later," says Snyder.

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In early June, for example, Medvedev published an angry message against alleged enemies of Russia, whom he described as "depraved people."

He is often asked why his posts on Telegram are so harsh, the former president wrote shortly thereafter, including the reason: "I answer - I hate them," said Medvedev about the West.

“They are bastards and scum.

They want our death, the death of Russia.

And as long as I live, I will do whatever it takes to make them go away."

In July, the former Russian president warned of a nuclear war in connection with the investigation by the International Criminal Court into possible war crimes in Ukraine.

"The idea of ​​punishing a country that possesses the largest nuclear arsenal is absurd in and of itself," he wrote on Telegram.

This could create "a threat to the existence of mankind," Medvedev warned.

He described NATO and Ukraine as a "constant threat to Russia".

He also warned that Ukraine could disappear completely from the map.

However, the former Russian president explained a post on his official profile in early August as a hacker attack.

The post questioned the sovereignty of former Soviet republics.

Dmitry Medvedev: From Putin confidant to renewed Putin successor?

The Russian invasion of Ukraine since February 24 has often been referred to as "Putin's war".

The idea behind this is that regime change in Russia would also mean the end of the war.

Apart from the fact that Vladimir Putin doesn't appear to be stepping down anytime soon, could Medvedev be his successor?

The former president is well known in the country, but experts don't think his chances as Putin's successor are high.

After the forest fires in Russia in 2010, his poll numbers collapsed, and the video of opposition politician Alexei Navalny from 2017 did the rest.

The research uncovered Medvedev's fortune, there was talk of a good one billion euros - and caused mass protests in Russia.

People took to the streets in over 80 cities.

In the course of the protests, a rubber duck became a symbol against corruption: in the Navalny video, which was clicked millions of times, it became public that there was a duck house in the middle of a pond in one of Medvedev's estates of millions - the rubber duck became a symbol.

Medvedev himself replied that the property belonged to charitable foundations - a research network also uncovered a similar concealment tactic in the case of Putin's alleged assets.

Different times: The picture shows Vladimir Putin, then Prime Minister of Russia, and then President Dmitry Medvedev in 2009 having a conversation.

© picture alliance / epa Sergei Chirikov / EPA / dpa |

epa Sergei Chirikov

According to experts, a possible successor to Nikolai Patrushev, Secretary of the National Security Council, or Alexi Dyumin, the governor of the Tula Oblast, is more likely.

According to political observers, even Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, and Sergei Shoigu, the Russian defense minister, have better chances than Medvedev.

Not much would change in Russia's current line under a new president, because there are no real alternatives to Putin's policies.

In addition, according to the current constitution, Putin can rule until 2036.