MEDVEDEV, Dmitry Anatolyevich
President of the Russian Federation

Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev (Дмитрий Анатольевич Медведев) is the 3rd and current President of Russia, inaugurated on May 7, 2008. He won the presidential election held on March 2, 2008 with about 70% of the vote. Formerly Vladimir Putin's chief of staff, he was also the Chairman of Gazprom's board of directors, a post he had held, for the second time, since 2000. On December 10, 2007, he was informally endorsed as a candidate for the forthcoming presidential elections by the largest Russian political party, United Russia, and officially endorsed on December 17, 2007. Medvedev had never held elective office before 2008.

Contents

1. Early Life and Personal
2. Education
3. Early Career
4. Career in Business
5. Political Career
6. 2008 Presidential Elections
7. President
8. Political Philosophy and Network
9. Sources
 
Medvedev is a Putin protégé, a fixture in his administrations dating back to Putin’s appointment as prime minister in 1999. Their relationship, however, dates back to the early 1990s when they worked together in the city government of St. Petersburg. In November 2005, Putin tapped Medvedev for the newly created deputy prime minister position. The appointment fueled speculation that Medvedev would become Putin’s chosen successor. That speculation shifted to then-Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov and later to Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov.

On December 10, 2007, Putin announced his support for Medvedev in the 2008 presidential elections. The informal endorsement came at a Kremlin appearance with Putin, Medevedev, United Russia party leader Boris Gryzlov, A Just Russia leader Sergei Mironov, and the leaders of two smaller parties. All present sounded their agreement with the president’s choice. One week later, United Russia, the country’s largest political party which had just won a constitutional super majority in parliamentary elections two weeks earlier, formally nominated Medvedev as their candidate in a near unanimous decision. On Dec. 11, 2007, Medvedev said, if elected, he would ask Putin to serve as his prime minister. Following Medvedev's success in the 2008 presidential elections, Putin was indeed nominated by the latter to be Russia's Prime Minister and took the post on May 8, 2008.

By trade, Medvedev is a lawyer. He received a law degree and doctorate from St. Petersburg University. During his time as president, Putin’s support for Medvedev was widely viewed as a blow to those in the Kremlin with backgrounds in the secret service known as the “siloviki.”

Early Life and Personal

Medvedev was born on Sept. 14, 1965, in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) to parents – both university professors – steeped in the intellectual culture of the Soviet Union’s most liberal city. His father, Anatoly, was a physicist who taught at a polytechnic institute, and his mother, Yulia, taught Russian language and literature.

Medvedev grew up in a 400-square-foot apartment in the Kupchino, a Leningrad suburb. Money was tight, and he recalled a frugal Soviet upbringing. He attended School No. 305. His parents tried to push him toward an interest in science, but from the beginning, he showed an interest in law. From an early age, he enjoyed foreign rock music that resided on the blacklist in Soviet times. In the tradition of the times, he obsessively collected copies of groups like Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple, through a practice known as “samizdat.”

In seventh grade, he met his future wife, Svetlana. They both graduated in 1982. At age 23, he chose to be baptized into the Russian Orthodox Church, which held no favor with the Soviet government of the time. As a student, Medvedev supplemented his stipend by working in construction and as a street cleaner.

Today, Medvedev has one son, Ilya, born in 1996. Medvedev is shorter than his potential predecessor, Putin, at 5 feet, 4 inches. He swims nearly one mile, twice a day. He also jogs, plays chess, and practices yoga. Medvedev is often described as studious, mild-mannered and quiet. As his public profile heightened, he learned to speak more directly, lost weight and his features became more chiseled. He still enjoys classic rock music. His favorite band, Deep Purple, played his going away party as Gazprom’s chairman in February 2008.

Education

Medvedev entered law school at Leningrad State University in the fall of 1982. More than a decade apart, both Medvedev and Putin took courses from Anatoly Sobchak, an outspoken Democrat and the future mayor of St. Petersburg.

He graduated in 1987 then decided to continue on to a doctorate which he completed in 1990. He specialized in private, corporate and securities law. Fellow students said he wore a suit and carried a briefcase

Early Career

While working toward his doctorate and amid the unraveling fabric of the Soviet power structure, Medvedev joined Sobchak in his campaign for the Congress of People’s Deputies of the Soviet Republic. Sobchak, often cited as one of the earliest voices advocating free markets and political pluralism, advocated these positions in his campaign and drew the ire of KGB agents who confiscated his campaign literature.

Medvedev and others stayed up late into the night to print another set by hand, according to Sobchak’s widow, Larisa Narusova. Sobchak easily won the election. Medvedev remained close to Sobchak as he, one of the few deputies with a legal background, set about creating many of the laws that would provide the foundation of a post-Soviet Russia.

For his part, Medvedev published the first of several law textbooks, an award-winning volume on the Russian civil code that was first published in 1991. From 1990 to 1999, Medvedev maintained a private practice in law, co-founded or advised several businesses and worked in government. Interviews with those familiar with Medvedev at the time describe his role as a go-between for government officials and business leaders, a leg work man with a deep knowledge of the legal structure.

Sobchak was elected to the Leningrad City Council in 1990 where he helped overhaul the structure of city politics and mandate a general election for the mayoral position. When the first elections were held in June 1991, Sobchak was on the ticket and he won handily. Medvedev went to work again for his former professor in the city government. He served as a legal adviser to Sobchak and a legal consultant to the committee for external affairs – headed by Vladimir Putin.

Putin and Medvedev worked together closely for years. As Sobchak busied himself writing the constitution of the Russian Federation and laying the legal foundation for the new government, running the city fell to deputies like Putin. A city council member at the time said Putin made the decisions while Medvedev did the legwork. Putin sold off city property and liaised with foreign officials. Medvedev provided legal advice, extended his private interests and continued to teach law at his alma mater. They remained with city government until 1996 when a former deputy, Vladimir Yakovlev, ran against Sobchak riding a wave of corruption charges and ousted him from office.

Career in Business

From the time he graduated law school, Medvedev maintained a double life in business and politics. In 1990, he co-founded a small, state-controlled company called Uran. Four years later, he co-founded a consultancy group called Balfort. Both companies were founded with his classmates from Leningrad State University (now St. Petersburg State University). Specifically, he founded Balfort with Anton Ivanov and Ilya Yesileyev.

In 1993, Medvedev joined Ilim Pulp company as legal affairs director where he helped turn the paper-processing company into a multi-million dollar industry leader. There, he used a connection to former KGB and military intelligence officers to help fight off a hostile takeover attempt of the lumber company. He resigned from his position at Ilim Pulp at the same time as government officials started looking into the company’s privatization projects, according to a biography published on lenta.ru.

Medvedev also co-founded Fintsell, a holding company with a stake in Ilim Pulp. In 1998, he took a position as chairman of the board of directors of Bratsky Forestry Complex. He also worked as a consultant for the insurance company, Rus’, under Vladislav Reznik, who later went on to head the State Duma’s committee on credit organizations and financial markets. In 1998, he served as chairman of the Bratsk Forestry Complex.

Medvedev’s meteoric rise to the upper echelons of the Kremlin power vertical launched in earnest in 2000, when his longtime boss and friend Vladimir Putin was elected the president of Russia.

In 2000, he became chairman of the board of directors at the state-controlled gas monopoly, Gazprom. He was the board’s deputy chairman from 2001 to 2002 before resuming the chairmanship.

He was head of Gazprom when Gazprom Media took control of the flagship holding in Vladimir Gusinsky’s media empire, the NTV television channel. Under Medvedev’s management, Gazprom considered a merger with Rosneft, a company that bought most of Yukos’s assests in an auction arranged by the state as a way for Yukos to pay off its tax bill. However, Medvedev made no politically charged statements against Mikhail Khodorkovsky and other disgruntled oligarchs. He insisted that such auctions were the only “legally effective” means to recover back taxes. From 2005 to 2007, with Medvedev at the helm, Gazprom was at the center of the “gas wars” with Ukraine and Belarus.

Political Career

After Sobchak’s loss in the mayoral race in 1996, Putin had gone to Moscow. Medvedev remained behind in St. Petersburg where he taught and pursued his business interests. President Boris Yeltsin appointed Putin as prime minister in August 1999 and tapped him as his preferred successor. Putin summoned Medvedev to Moscow to head the government administration in November 1999. One month later, Yeltsin resigned and Putin brought Medvedev along as deputy head of the presidential administration. During presidential elections in 2000, Medvedev was the head of Putin’s campaign.

From 2001 to 2003, besides his day to day responsibilities in the Kremlin staff supporting the president’s activities, he was assigned to special projects. This included heading the commission which oversaw the drafting and enactment of framework legislation on the reform of the civil service and looking at ways to best overhaul the judicial system.

Medvedev was one of several St. Petersburg colleagues whom Putin moved to Moscow, and his rise through the echelons of government was – like Putin’s – meteoric. While in the presidential administration, Medvedev avoided an affinity with either of two poles of power forming in the Kremlin: the camp of security service officials (known as the “siloviki”) or the group around Alexander Voloshin, Putin’s chief of staff and one of the major figures of the Yeltsin-era “family.” When Voloshin resigned in the October 2003, he was replaced by Medvedev.

For most of his professional career, Medvedev had been a behind-the-scenes player, known mostly to those paying attention as a business leader and behind-the-scenes government player. That all changed in November 2005, when Putin appointed Medvedev to a specially created post as first deputy prime minister in charge of five national projects. Two months earlier, Putin had outlined the national projects which focused on domestic development. Medvedev took the lead and the national projects garnered enormous media attention on state-run television.

2008 Presidential Elections

The appointment as first deputy prime minister made Medvedev the early favorite to succeed Putin as president. He enjoyed extensive exposure and favorable media coverage as a result of the national projects. Billions of dollars were apportioned for the domestic welfare undertakings to improve health care, education, housing and agriculture.

Medvedev’s popularity ratings were bested only by the sitting president.

However, the appointment of Sergei Ivanov, a hawkish former security official with a deeper political resume, to another post as first deputy prime minister called Medvedev’s coronation into question. By the beginning of 2007, Ivanov was seen as a more likely candidate. The appointment in September of Viktor Zubkov as prime minister in the fall of 2007 further muddied the waters.

A flood of news articles and opinion pieces obsessed over the identity of Putin’s potential successor, but the decision rested only with Putin. He gave no hint as to his preferred candidate until a bit of political theater on Dec. 10, 2007. In a news conference at the Kremlin, Putin sat at a table with Medvedev, United Russia party leader Boris Gryzlov, A Just Russia leader Sergei Mironov, the leader of the Civil Force Party and the Agrarian Party. Gryzlov said he offered his support for Medvedev and Putin assented. “I fully support this candidacy,” he said.

The next day, Medvedev said, if elected, he would ask Putin to serve as his prime minister. With that, the elections on March 2 were decided. Medvedev’s presence in the media skyrocketed again alongside a torrent of biographical pieces asking, “Who is Medvedev?”

In opinion polls after the announcement, Medvedev gained the support of some 80 percent of respondents. Analysts predicted that he will win the March 2 vote easily with more than 60 percent support.

President

Medvedev was elected President of Russia on March 2, 2008. According to final election results, he won 70.28% of votes with a turnout of over 69.78% of registered voters. The fairness of the election was disputed, with official monitoring groups giving conflicting reports. Some reported that the election was free and fair, while others reported that not all candidates had equal media coverage and that Kremlin opposition was treated unfairly. Monitoring groups found a number of other irregularities, but made no reports of fraud or ballot stuffing. Most agreed that the results reflected the will of the people.

On May 7 Dmitry Medvedev took oath as third President of the Russian Federation in a ceremony held in Kremlin Palace. After taking the oath of office and receiving a gold chain of double-headed eagles symbolizing the presidency, he stated: "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." As his inauguration coincided with the celebration of victory over Nazi Germany at May 9, he attended the military parade at Red Square and signed a decree to provide housing to war veterans.

 Political Philosophy and Network

Medvedev was one of a group of St. Petersburg lawyers and security officials summoned to Moscow when Putin ascended to power in the Kremlin. As the personae associated with Yeltsin’s administration faded from power into Putin’s second term, a group of former KGB security officials, widely known as the siloviki, filled powerful positions and begin to exercise control over policy, both foreign and domestic. Members of the siloviki have driven a hawkish foreign policy line and taken positions at companies where the state has begun to wield more influence in recent years. For sure, the St. Petersburg contingent is the dominant force in Kremlin politics, but it has several camps.

In his position as deputy head and then head of the Presidential Administration, Medvedev did not align himself with the fading Yeltsin figures or the siloviki. Instead, he found an affinity with other St. Petersburg lawyers and Kremlin technocrats. He has brought several of his university colleagues to Moscow or placed them in prominent positions at state-controlled companies like Gazprom.

The St. Petersburg lawyers and technocrats are seen has having a more liberal bent on economic policy, favoring open markets and more pluralism, on civil administration, advocating market principles in resolving Russia’s social issues, and on foreign policy. They include Elvira Nabiullina, the minister for economic development, and Dmitry Kozak, the minister for regional development. In speeches since December 2007, Medvedev has sounded a more liberal tone on economics and a more open attitude on foreign policy than Putin. Though no one doubts that for the time being Medvedev remains a Putin protégé.

Medvedev’s policy style can be summed up as a kind of controlled liberalism, where the state becomes involved only in cases where the problem is too big or the stakes are too high for private enterprise to succeed, i.e. when the state risks losing control over a strategic sector of the economy.

This economic liberalism would seem to be at odds with his time at Gazprom, the world’s largest gas company and a state-controlled entity. Medvedev said in November 2007 that he felt Gazprom should not hold a monopoly on the Russian fuel market, and he would see that foreign companies and other actors have a chance to work in Russia. “Gazprom will not be able to ‘digest’ all of Russia’s energy resources,” Medvedev said. “And thank God for that – otherwise Gazprom would become the ministry of energy – and we have been trying to avoid this state of affairs.”

In speeches in 2008, Medvedev said that “Freedom is better than no freedom.” He spoke out for economic freedoms, human rights and freedom of expression. He also said the Russia is a country riddled with corruption saturated with a sense of “legal nihilism.” He has called for reforms of the judicial system and a real separation of that system from the executive and legislative branches.

Medvedev hasn’t taken up Putin’s mantle of “sovereign democracy” – a term used to describe democracy managed by domestic interests – for Russia. The idea arose during Putin’s second term. “I still don’t like this term. In my opinion as a lawyer, playing up one feature of a full-fledged democracy – namely the supremacy of state authorities within the country and their independence (from influences) outside the country – is excessive and even harmful because it is disorienting,” Medvedev said in a July 2007 interview.

Maybe the biggest departure from Putin's program was Medvedev's call for an end to the practice of placing state officials on the boards of major corporations. Medvedev himself sat on the board of Gazprom, and Russia is almost unique in Europe in that senior government officials double up as board members of nearly every significant business in the country. “I think there is no reason for the majority of state officials to sit on the boards of those firms,” Medvedev said. “They should be replaced by truly independent directors, which the state would hire to implement its plans."

Sources

Russia Profile, Venus Bests Mars, Dmitry Babich, Dec. 10, 2007
Russia Profile, A Controlled Liberal?, Dmitry Babich, Dec. 11, 2007
Russia Profile, All the Next President’s Men, Graham Stack, Dec. 19, 2007
Russia Profile, A Democrat’s Legacy, Yelena Biberman, Dec. 12, 2007
Newsweek, Owen Matthews, Russia’s Mighty Mouse, Feb. 25, 2008
The Moscow Times, Nabi Abdullaev, A Soft-Spoken, ‘Smart Kid’ Lawyer, Nov. 2, 2007
Russia Intelligence, Dmitry Medvedev, Myth and Reality on Vladimir Putin’s “Heir”, Dec. 21, 2007
Gazprom, Dmitry Medvedev Bio
Itogi, Paid Interview with Dmitry Medvedev, Feb. 18, 2008
The Russia Index 2005, Dmitry Medevedev Bio
Business New Europe, Who is Medvedev?, Ben Aris, Feb. 20, 2008
Helsingin Sanomat (Finland), Medvedev from old Leningrad days, Jussi Konttinen, Feb. 13, 2008
Gazeta.ru, Who is Mister Medvedev?, Ilya Azar, Gazeta.ru
Lenta.ru, Bio of Dmitry Medvedev (In Russian)