Dimitri Medvedev
Biography of Dimitri Medvedev
Medvedev Dimitri Anatolievich
President of the Russian Federation
Dimitri A. Medvedev was born on September 14, 1965, in Leningrad. He graduated from Law Department, Leningrad State University, in 1987. Upon completion of the post-graduate program at the University in 1990, he obtained Ph. D. (Law), and assistant professorship.
Mr. Medvedev taught at St. Petersburg State University from 1990 to 1999. From 1990 to 1995 he served as Adviser to the Chairman, Leningrad City Council, and Expert Consultant, Committee for External Relations of the St. Petersburg Mayor's Office.
Mr. Medvedev was appointed Deputy Chief of Staff of the Government of the Russian Federation in 1999. In 1999 - 2000 he was Deputy Head, First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration.
Mr. Medvedev was Chairman of the Board of Directors, Gazprom, from 2000 to 2001, and Deputy Chairman of the Board in 2001-2002. He has been Chairman of the Board of Directors, Gazprom, since June, 2002.
Mr. Medvedev was Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office from October, 2003 to November, 2005.
Mr. Medvedev was appointed First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation on November, 2005
Dimitri A. Medvedev is married, one son.
Who is Medvedev?
As Dimitri Medvedev prepares to take up the reins of power after the March presidential election, which he is almost certain to win, he held a press conference and laid out his main ideas for the continuing efforts to reform Russia. Who is Medvedev? With this speech, he has largely answered the question.
First and foremost, he is Putin's man. He peppered his speech with phrases like, "as the president has correctly said…" In an unprecedented move for an industrialised nation, Putin intends to leave the post of president and take up the lesser job of prime minister, something that no other leader has done, says Chris Weafer, head of strategy at UralSib. Medvedev's presidency will be a double act that some have called the "dream team" for investment sentiment.
Medvedev comes to the job with a team of liberal-ish lawyers and academics currently waiting in the wings, mostly friends and associates from his St Petersburg days. The distinguishing feature of this group is that they do not belong to the so-called Siloviki hard-line Kremlin fraction that tightened its grip on the Kremlin in the latter part of Putin's rule.
On February 17 (2008), Medvedev travelled to an economic forum in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk and laid out the main goals for his presidency. There were no big surprises and the business community at least will be reassured to hear that the program Medvedev is promising will tackle some long overdue reforms.
The program can be summed up as the "four I's," Renaissance Capital says: institutions, infrastructure, innovation and investment. To this, Medvedev added seven specific tasks:
• Develop an independent judicial system
• Radically reduce red tape
• Decrease taxation
• Transform the ruble into the local reserve currency
• Modernize transport and energy infrastructure
• Form the basis of a national innovation system
• Realize a social development programme
"Given the format in which they were delivered, these priorities are not idle talk, but rather a declaration of the policy to be seriously approached for years to come. Even partially attained, they would significantly improve the sustainability of Russia's long-term growth," says UralSib's Weafer. "The Kremlin is now shifting its focus to a post-election strategy, one designed to diversify the Russian economy beyond the mere extraction and export of raw materials. This speech directly addressed that broad goal and, with the seriousness and detail in which it was presented, easily exceeded our expectations."
This program represents an extension of Putin's policies, the logical next step for the reforms that are already well in hand. The economy has flourished under Putin, whose task was made much easier by the rapid rise in oil prices shortly after he took over. But the scope of Putin's reforms was limited to a few big-ticket items and tinkering with the rest.
For much of his time in office, Putin concentrated on two goals: getting the wheels of commerce turning again, largely by concentrating on pushing financial sector reform, and returning to state control the strategic assets "stolen" by the oligarchs in the 1990s so that the revenues go into the public purse rather than the individuals' pockets.
But Putin never addressed the broader issues of administrative and social sector reforms, without which Russia will never be able to mature into a "normal" country.
Minister of Economic Development and Trade German Gref did manage to push through some limited reforms to simplify the licensing of businesses, but registering and regulating business activity remains a stinking feeding trough for most local officials. Likewise, the deputy head of the presidential administration, Dimitri Kozak, authored and implemented limited reforms to the judicial system that, for example, ended judges employment for life but stopped short of the wholesale revamp the system badly needs.
Both these changes were the political equivalent of wrapping some duct tape around a leaking pipe; they stemmed the flow of water but didn't stop the leak. Putin had so much on his plate that he was ordering quick fixes before moving on to bigger problems. Gref went on to tackle banking reform and Kozak was sent to the Caucasus to deal with the Chechen mess.
Medvedev's presidency promises to turn the Kremlin's full attention to overdue judicial and administrative reforms. In his speech, he called for establishment of the supremacy of law, including a judiciary completely independent of the executive and legislative branches. Policies reflected in laws should be based on freedom "in all its manifestations – personal freedom, economic freedom, and finally freedom of expression." The first part clearly harks back to Putin's "dictatorship of the law," but the second sounds a note not heard out of the Kremlin before.
Judicial reform is only one side of the coin and Medvedev is promising to radically reduce administrative barriers to business, which strikes at the heart of endemic corruption as "the most serious disease" in Russian society. Medvedev stated that respect for private property needs to become a key part of government policy, the violation of which has often been carried out by corrupt officials. Private property should be "seen as a value that has been created and earned by honest work."
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."
Maybe the most contentious reform that Medvedev is proposing is to lower taxes to stimulate innovation and investment – a proposal that Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin almost immediately condemned. "If the current taxes remain in force, then within the next five years we would be able to achieve a doubling or tripling in the construction of infrastructure. If we reduce taxes, this will not be possible," Kudrin said, Interfax reported. "Yes to tax reduction in the long term, but this must be done very carefully and step by step."
Medvedev argues that the state must collect only enough tax to cover its basic services to society. But, ironically, this reform will bring him into conflict with the liberals in the government for going too far, too fast.
But this program is not going to be easy to implement. Nationalizing oil companies is easy - you only need to throw one uppity oligarch in jail and it's all over. Closing the loopholes that allow the 1.2 million-strong state bureaucracy to help itself to bribes will be met with massive resistance and only a complete overhaul of the system will make these changes stick.
Medvedev has laid out an extremely ambitious program, in many ways much more ambitious than Putin's goals. The question that should be asked of Medvedev if he takes up the office of president is not who he is, but what are his chances of pulling all these reforms off?
Dimitri Medvedev
People who know Dimitri Medvedev describe him as an intelligent and straightforward man who dislikes risk -- but does he have the political instincts to survive as Russia's next president?
more stories like thisHe has been overwhelming favorite to win the March 2 presidential election ever since his mentor, the outgoing President Vladimir Putin, endorsed Medvedev to replace him.
Medvedev's personal qualities could suit Putin's purposes: he needs a reliable and loyal ally in the Kremlin job if he is to exert influence after his own presidential term ends.
Some ex-colleagues question though whether Medvedev has the cunning and ruthlessness to impose his own authority in the job.
"Dima is clever, clever enough to be president and he is tough, tough enough to be president," one former colleague from the 1990s told Reuters on condition his name was not published.
"But you have to have a sense, an emotional intelligence, a feeling for decisions in the Kremlin - Putin has it, (Former President Boris) Yeltsin definitely had it - does Dima? I don't know. We shall see," the former colleague said.
If he wins the election, the 42-year-old Medvedev will become the youngest Russian leader since Russia's last emperor, Tsar Nikolai II. He will also be the first Russian leader with a background in private business.
In contrast to Putin, a former KGB spy accused of rolling back democracy, former lawyer Medvedev has stressed the importance of freedom and justice. He pleased markets by saying he wants to limit the Kremlin's role in big corporations.
But with a week to go before polling day, Medvedev's personality remains something of a mystery.
A man who himself says he is "buttoned-up" in public, the one-sided campaign has done nothing to expose his character. He declined to take part in television debates and the only one-on-one interview he gave was paid for by his campaign.
So who is Dimitri Medvedev? The most striking theme that emerged from interviews Reuters conducted with some of Medvedev's former colleagues and acquaintances is that -- at least until now -- he does not stand out from the crowd.
Mikhail Kasyanov, prime minister at a time when Medvedev worked for Putin in the Kremlin, struggled to recall anything of note about Medvedev.
"He is just a normal bureaucrat," shrugged Kasyanov, who became a fierce Kremlin opponent after he was sacked in 2004.
Even Medvedev's supporters do not have a lot to say about him. "He is a good guy, just a good guy," said one source close to the Kremlin. "He does what he says he will."
Dimitri Anatolyevich Medvedev, born into a family of teachers, is remembered as a bookish child.
He says his favorite book was the Soviet Encyclopaedia -- similar to the Encyclopaedia Britannica -- though he also developed a taste for British rock bands Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple.
"He is very cultured, you can speak to him about the theatre, music, he has a sense of humor," said Nataliya Rasskazova, who studied with Medvedev at St Petersburg University's law faculty, where Putin also studied.
more stories like this"He has not changed. I saw him a year ago and there was no arrogance, he was not high and mighty," she said.
Medvedev taught law after graduating but also went to work for Putin, who was chairman of the St Petersburg mayor's committee for external relations.
Medvedev also moved into business, a period of his life which is left out of official biographies.
He worked as a key lawyer for the Ilim Pulp paper firm, helping to found the firm, though colleagues say he was never treated as an equal by the firm's owners. It has emerged as one of Russia's leading companies in a sector worth billions of dollars.
"He got a salary and he was in real business in the 1990s. He saw the reality," said his former colleague.
His ex-colleague said Medvedev took a stance unusual for the time: he avoided paying bribes, even losing the company a court case because he refused to give money to a judge.
Kremlin years
Medvedev owes his political career to Putin. By 1999, Medvedev's old friend was prime minister and soon to replace Yeltsin as president. Putin invited Medvedev to Moscow.
He served as deputy chief of the Kremlin staff, later chief of staff, and was made chairman of state-controlled Gazprom, the world's biggest gas firm.
Investment bankers said Medvedev displayed his power in the Kremlin by pushing through a major reform of Gazprom that allowed the state to consolidate its control but at the same time opened up the firm's shares to ownership by foreigners.
Medvedev was catapulted into the presidential race late last year when Putin said he was the right man for the job. But with Putin still powerful and planning to stay on as prime minister, Medvedev's position could be precarious.
"We are seeing just a part of the plan, the first few scenes, and no one knows the ending - not even Medvedev - and he can't know because (Putin's) plans could change depending on Medvedev," his former colleague said.
"Putin trusts Medvedev, he trusts his moderate character and dislike of risk taking. That is what he needs, but how long does it last for Medvedev? How will it work?"
Dimitri Medvedev on the web
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmitry_Medvedev
Astrotheme: http://www.astrotheme.fr/en/portrait.php?clef=X47grbj5Q6CD&info=true
Harald Tribut (Dimitri Medvedev: Who is he?): http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/04/16/europe/russia.php
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