The former Russian president has stepped up hateful attacks on Kiev and western countries for a year. But the former head of state, who has become the free electron in the Kremlin, is primarily looking for influence and credibility.
Admit it: Dmitry Medvedev is a creative man. Since the start of the war in Ukraine, the former Russian president has made numerous shocking statements in international news, which has brought him media attention around the world. Perhaps because his style hardly suits a former Kremlin tenant. For example, when he compares the international arrest warrant issued against Vladimir Putin with “toilet paper”. Or when he calls the leaders of the G7 “idiots”, ironically ironizes a “Fourth Reich” of western countries, threatens to drop a nuclear bomb on London or hit the International Criminal Court with a hypersonic missile. He sees Poland as a “bad dog” ready to swallow “the remains” of Ukraine.
His threats are most often aimed at the “crazy Nazi drug addicts” and “cockroaches” in power in Ukraine to destroy a “Nazi regime”. The former Kremlin leaseholder sometimes embellishes his logorrhea with pictures, for example when he publishes a montage* on Telegram that shows Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the guise of Adolf Hitler. Occasionally, Dmitry Medvedev also pours into the mystical vocabulary. “The goal is to arrest the supreme ruler of Hell, whatever name he uses – Satan, Lucifer or Iblis,” he launched in the fall, when the topic of Ukraine’s “de-Satanization” was in vogue.
Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev during a visit to the Kalashnikov factory in Izhvesk, Russia, January 24, 2023. (YEKATERINA SHTUKINA/SPUTNIK VIA AFP)
Even before the war began, he had accused the Ukrainian leaders of being “weak people just trying to line their pockets” in the newspaper “Kommersant.” Shortly after the invasion began, he offered himself a new playground with his Telegram channel. In the meantime, more than a million people subscribe to the publications of “Dimon”, which, according to the words* of the independent journalist Ivan Davydov at the beginning of November, has gradually established itself as one of the “crastest and most radical politicians in Russia”. Five months earlier, the subject had justified his vulgar outbursts to the power in Kiev*.
“The answer is that I hate her. They are bastards and degenerates. They want Russia dead. As long as I live, I will do everything to make them go away.”
Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council
on telegram
Dmitry Medvedev didn’t always have the wings of a hawk. On the contrary, he has long been seen as a moderate political figure, in contrast to the uncompromising siloviki in the army or security services.
Heir to a liberal movement that fizzled out
This former law professor and jurist, university weightlifting champion and passionate photographer met Vladimir Putin in the 1990s in the entourage of Anatoly Sobchak, mayor of Leningrad (who returned to Saint Petersburg a few months later). Dmitry Medvedev became campaign manager for the future head of state in the 2000 presidential elections, then his chief of staff. At that time he also moved to the supervisory board of the powerful Gazprom concern.
“His rhetoric has been surprisingly violent since the beginning of the war in Ukraine because it is the opposite of the character that Bill Gates encountered and was held in high esteem by Western elites.”
Olga Gille-Belova, Lecturer in Contemporary Russian Civilization at the University of Bordeaux
at franceinfo
In 2008, Vladimir Putin is set to step down after two consecutive terms at the helm of Russia. Dmitry Medvedev takes over without much leeway. “It bears the legacy of a liberal economic current in decline, but one that still exists,” says Olga Gille-Belova, lecturer in contemporary Russian civilization at the University of Bordeaux. The Russian President then wants to “reinitiate” relations with the United States of Barack Obama and praises the virtues of “modernization” based on technological innovation. “He is also trying to propose some measures for political liberalization, and he is also blamed for the large-scale demonstrations of 2011 and 2012 as an undesirable effect of his speech.”
Dmitry Medvedev, then President of the Russian Federation, and Barack Obama, then President of the United States, on April 1, 2009 in London (UK) during a G20 summit. (VLADIMIR RODIONOV / RIA NOVOSTI / AFP)
Back then, Dmitry Medvedev gushed about his iPhone offered by Bill Gates, visited the premises of Twitter and confided in the groups Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath about his youthful love. But Russian modernization remains largely authoritarian, decided by the elites. “A joke made the rounds back then: Medvedev very happily gets into a nice car and finally asks where the steering wheel is. He is told that it is in reliable hands,” says researcher Cécile Vaissié, professor at the University of Rennes. After Vladimir Putin’s return to the Kremlin, Dmitry Medvedev is appointed head of government and finds himself in a role as a straw man.
“A caricature of what has become of Russia”
In 2017, the foundation of the adversary Alexeï Navalny revealed its immense real estate legacy in an investigation into the corruption of the elite. “He had denied the allegations but had to hold back after these revelations,” prompting demonstrations in several cities across the country. A small duck was swung there, alluding to the pond created in one of his opulent residences. “During these years he lost what was left of his credibility,” analyzes Cécile Vaissié. Many photos * and videos circulated on the net to make him look ridiculous.” To make matters worse, he was caught sleeping several times, at ceremonies and official speeches.
Three years later, Dmitry Medvedev left the White House in Moscow, the residence of the prime minister and seat of the Russian government. “Some interpreted his resignation as the end of his political life and he seemed to have no weight anymore,” notes Olga Gille-Belova.
Dmitry Medvedev, still at the head of the United Russia party, then took over the position of Vice President of the Security Council that had been created for him. Its scope is rather vague, especially since secretary Nikolai Patrushev pulls the strings of the advisory board firmly in his hand. “It is very difficult to know the political role of Dmitry Medvedev today, the researcher continues, but he is always present in Vladimir Putin’s entourage.”
Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, reads a telegram from Stalin to the military-industrial commission in Moscow on March 23, 2023. (DMITRI MEDVEDEV / TELEGRAM)
Note his appointment to head a military-industrial commission in late December. Dmitry Medvedev’s mission is to boost arms production. Which he takes very seriously. At the end of March he began to read a telegram from … Joseph Stalin* to a meeting. In 1941, the dictator threatened the director of a factory that he would not supply enough parts for the tanks, promising to “crush him like a criminal” if he failed.
Dmitry Medvedev urges the audience to “remember the Generalissimo’s words” and be inspired by them. Atmosphere at the table… “In his youth, at the time of perestroika, I don’t think he could have imagined quoting Stalin in an official context,” sums up Cécile Vaissié. “It’s almost a caricature of what has become of Russia.”
An “isolated” character
“He’s a very controversial character who doesn’t have his own power or autonomy,” explains Olga Gille-Belova. “The radicalization of his speech serves to scare Western public opinion, but it is also aimed at Russian audiences, including the conservative military elite.” This aggressive communication also allows him to emerge from oblivion, to say the least. “His popularity has increased with this virulent rhetoric, but is far from his usual register.” According to a survey by the VTsIOM* institute in mid-April, almost 39 percent of the Russians surveyed trusted him, compared to 25 percent at the beginning of the war.
“It remains a form of Vladimir Putin’s right arm or shadow.”
Olga Gille-Belova, Lecturer in Contemporary Russian Civilization at the University of Bordeaux
at franceinfo
“Turning popularity into influence is not easy in peacetime, and even less so in wartime,” nuances Alexandra Prokopenko (in English), a researcher in the Russian division of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “Dmitry Medvedev is isolated and has no more support,” adds Cécile Vaissié. He disappointed the intelligentsia and Vladimir Putin has already won the support of a nationalist state. All he can do is recite his small political role. “It’s his ‘Krysha’ (“roof”), his protection,” political scientist Mark Galeotti analyzes in the British weekly The Spectator (in English), using a criminal term “used in politics and business”.
Aware that his future is playing out alongside the war in Ukraine, Dmitry Medvedev said he is “ready to help (his) country where it will be useful”. He proved that last December when he met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing. He now has a lot of free time, which he uses to comment on international news. Most recently, he notably supported Texas* independence, promoted Netflix* piracy, predicted the end of the euro*, saw Elon Musk as the future face of the United States* and called for a hypothetical blue to be “ruthlessly destroyed”. Helm Mission in Ukraine. A whole program.
* These links point to content in Russian.