Your beloved Russia Insider often plays appalling practical jokes on its own readers. This is not one of them.
Russia's Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev is a human embarrassment, and it's time for him to go.
This has been clear for many, many years. There were always obvious signs, but for us the final straw was when Medvedev chastised Putin for opposing NATO's destruction of Libya ("it is absolutely inexcusable to use expressions that, in effect, lead to a clash of civilizations -- such as 'crusades,' and so on. That is unacceptable") and followed up with a regurgitated NATO press release: "All that is now happening in Libya is the result of the appalling behavior of the Libyan leadership and the crimes it committed against its own people."
Yeah, this guy's a jerk.
He's also a sniveling, insufferable smurf. As the article below points out, "In August 2016, Medvedev told Russian teachers distraught over meager pay that their predicament was no one's fault but their own: 'You didn't go into business, as I understand, so there you have it.'"
He's like a sci-fi humanoid horror — half Joe Biden, half Scrooge McDuck.
We have approximately zero love for Navalny, but the reality is that his anti-corruption video targeting Medvedev makes it absolutely clear that "Dimon" is an embarrassment and a parasite.
Again, quoting the article below: "Medvedev's behavior has alienated not only the middle-class Russians who had abandoned him after he became prime minister in 2012, but also working-class Russians and even Russia's political elites."
Western media coverage of the recent protests across Russia was comical and disgraceful. But that doesn't change the fact that Dmitry Medvedev is an awful person.
We imagine that there's a very good reason why Medvedev is still hanging around. Putin understands that you keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. But honestly: Give him the boot. It's time.On March 26, protesters hit the streets across Russia over corruption allegations against Prime Minister and former President Dmitri Medvedev. As Russian courts prepare to prosecute those detained during Sunday's unsanctioned protests, as well as the employees of Alexei Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), it is important to identify what sets Russia's latest series of protests apart from those of the recent past and how it may affect the country's political landscape as the 2018 presidential election nears.
That being said, we are excerpting this article not because we agree with everything in it, but because we think the points it makes about Medvedev are compelling and worthy of serious discussion.
As always, we invite our readers to weigh in.
What is immediately striking is the cause of the protests: "He Is Not Dimon to You," an investigation into Medvedev's wealth published on YouTube by anti-corruption activist and one-time Moscow mayoral candidate Navalny on March 2. The video, which has been viewed more than 14 million times, implicates Medvedev (Dimon is a nickname for Dmitry)—a close ally of President Vladimir Putin who briefly replaced him as president from 2008 to 2012 in what was widely considered an act of political theater—in owning secret assets, including mansions, yachts and a vineyard.
Viewed out of context, Navalny's latest investigation is unremarkable. Medvedev is not the first Russian official to have ill-gotten gains exposed by Navalny, whose brother, Oleg, is currently serving a three-and-a-half-year sentence meant as an (apparently ineffective) leverage over Alexei. Among Navalny's greatest hits include investigations targeting Yuri Chaika, Russia's prosecutor general, and Igor Shuvalov, the first deputy prime minister.
Despite the egregiousness of their alleged corruption—Shuvalov was found to have used a private jet to regularly fly his family's pet corgis around the world—both men remain in their posts.
WIDESPREAD CONTEMPT
The outbreak of protests, which Navalny began organizing on March 15, owes to a specific condition that was absent in the cases of Chaika and Shuvalov: widespread contempt toward Navalny's target. Medvedev increasingly appears to have given up on pretending he represents the interests of Russians. The country's middle class made its disapproval of him known when it led the protests of 2011-13, aggrieved at the sight of a self-professed modernizer handing over the reins of power to Putin—a reactionary force that few middle-class Russians wished to see back in office having come to believe that Russia had abandoned its historical tradition of leaders never stepping down.
The working class has joined the chorus of Medvedev's critics thanks to a string of gaffes highlighting the prime minister's indifference to Russians' economic difficulties. In August 2016, Medvedev told Russian teachers distraught over meager pay that their predicament was no one's fault but their own: "You didn't go into business, as I understand, so there you have it."
Worse still, in May 2016, while visiting Crimea, the annexation of which has come at a hefty cost for Russia and its people, Medvedev told worried pensioners, an especially vulnerable segment of the population, "There's just no money right now. ... You hang in there. Best wishes! Cheers! Take care!"
Medvedev, once commonly cited as a potential successor to Putin, made these recommendations as he literally escaped the people in whose name Russia had invaded Ukraine. He neatly symbolizes Russia's outrageous economic inequality in his clear indifference to the economic problems of ordinary Russians and to the optics of Navalny's allegations, which he has responded to by blocking Navalny on Instagram and going skiing during Sunday's protests.
Medvedev's complacency may stem from the appearance that his place in power is guaranteed. However, recent weeks give reason for doubt about Medvedev's job security. His behavior has combined with increasing negative attention over Navalny's accusations to drive even the so-called "loyal" opposition in Russia's parliament to demand an official investigation into Medvedev's alleged wealth.
More embarrassingly, Putin appears to be subtly marginalizing the prime minister. At a meeting of Russian officials on March 14, Putin offered a mocking explanation for Medvedev's absence that almost certainly undercut the prime minister's authority: "The [flu] epidemic here is waning. Nonetheless, the situation is still serious. See, we weren't able to save Dmitri Anatolievich." In a counterproductive move that made him look even more side-lined, Medvedev refuted Putin's comments on March 23, saying he had never fallen ill.
Russian analysts say Medvedev is under pressure from both elites and the public, and are increasingly considering the possibility that he will be forced to resign.
Read the entire article here: Fair Observer
I n the land of eleven time zones, Is corruption really the most important topic of conversation in Russia such that Navalny used it to piggy back his own political agenda?
If Medvedev is found corrupt it will reflect badly on Putin as being an extremely bad judge of character.