Reception against the successor. Alexei Navalny's investigative film about the secret empire of Dmitry Medvedev FBK transferred the property of funds allegedly controlled by Medvedev

The communists proposed in their document to instruct the Duma Security Committee to request information from security forces and registration authorities and organize an investigation into the alleged illegal activities of the charitable foundations and individuals mentioned in the FBK film in order to “understand the degree of reliability of the examples voiced by A.A. Navalny.” in the publication “He’s not Dimon for you.”

The head of the Duma Committee on Security and Anti-Corruption, United Russia member Vasily Piskarev stated that “not a single one of his [Navalny’s] so-called investigations, including the last one in question, had and has nothing to do with the truth, much less with the fight against corruption." “The product of his creativity, as it turned out earlier, and I am sure, is now a kind of symbiosis of dirt, fantasy, staged tricks and falsifications with a pronounced political and provocative context,” the head of the security committee emphasized.

The day before, the speaker of the lower house, Vyacheslav Volodin, initiated the communists to check the facts of the FBK investigation. He stated that “it is wrong to involve the Duma in this story,” and sees no point in considering the order, since “there is no injured party, there are no facts of bribery,” and this film “spreads false information.”

At the same time, the State Duma supported the protocol order of United Russia, demanding to investigate the corruption ties of ex-KPRF deputy Denis Voronenkov, who was killed in Kyiv. The authors of the text note that the deceased parliamentarian “used his corrupt connections in the Moscow prosecutor’s office, which closed the case.”

Deputies asked the Duma Security Committee to verify these facts by requesting information from the Prosecutor General's Office, "and also to report who worked in the leadership of the Moscow prosecutor's office in the period from 2000 to 2003." The State Duma supported the order. In turn, Sergei Reshulsky (Communist Party of the Russian Federation) saw in this decision a response to the demarche of the Communist faction against the leader of the United Russia Dmitry Medvedev. In his opinion, the order of United Russia is directly caused by the proposal of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation to investigate the facts of Medvedev’s corruption, since they are trying to remind that the current deputy from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, Yuri Sinelshchikov, worked in the leadership of the Moscow prosecutor’s office in those years.​

On March 26, mass protests against corruption took place in more than 100 Russian cities. The reason for going to the rallies was the publication by Navalny’s FBK of a film about the property of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, “He’s Not Dimon to You.” The investigation stated that funds associated with Medvedev own property totaling 70 billion rubles.

Medvedev’s press secretary Natalya Timakova immediately after the release of the investigation stated that the FBK film “has a pronounced pre-election character, as he himself says.” According to her, it makes no sense to comment on the “propaganda attacks of an oppositional and convicted character.”

The Prime Minister himself commented on the FBK accusations a month later; on April 4, he stated that the investigation into his real estate and related funds was done according to the “compote principle.” “They pick up all sorts of crap there, collect all sorts of nonsense about me, if it concerns me, about people I know, and about people I’ve never even heard of. About some places I've been. About some places that I have never heard of either. They collect some papers, photographs, clothes there. Then they create such a product and present it,” Medvedev said during a meeting with workers of the Tambov Bacon LLC plant.

Alexei Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation has published a large investigation into the luxury real estate of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

Thus, the organization claims that Medvedev received a “palace on Rublyovka” as a gift from businessman Alisher Usmanov.

FBK, in particular, claims that the Dar, Gradislava, and Sotsgosproekt foundations act in the interests of Medvedev and de jure own property that actually belongs to the prime minister.

According to FBK, Medvedev’s “secret assets” are managed by Vladimir Dyachenko.

Navalny connected Dyachenko and Medvedev on orders for sneakers and shirts

As one of the proofs that it is Dyachenko who manages Medvedev’s assets, Navalny points out the sneakers and shirt in which the prime minister appeared in public. From Medvedev's hacked email it became known that he allegedly uses a postal address for personal purchases on the Internet, orders were delivered by Dyachenko.

FBK discovered an order for sneakers Nike and shirts Fred Perry And Beams Plus, in which the Prime Minister subsequently appeared in public.

“Medvedev chooses the clothes himself, and orders delivery in the name of a trusted person - Vladimir Dyachenko. And this same Dyachenko is the director of the company that owns the Kursk lands and Anapa vineyards of Medvedev,” says Navalny.

“It is Dyachenko’s company that has the controlling shares of the Mansurovo agricultural complex and the Anapa vineyards Skalisty Bereg. The same person is involved in the daily management of the Rublev estate in Znamensky, received as a gift from Alisher Usmanov,” FBK continues.

FBK listed the property of funds allegedly controlled by Medvedev

FBK, in particular, claims that the Dar, Gradislava, and Sotsgosproekt foundations act in the interests of Medvedev; property that actually belongs to the prime minister is registered in their name.

The organization claims that Medvedev, through the Fund for Support of Socially Significant Projects, received a “palace on Rublyovka” as a gift from businessman Alisher Usmanov. Navalny calls this gift a bribe.

Navalny also demonstrated an estate with an area of ​​240 thousand square meters in Mansurovo, Kursk region, owned by Medvedev’s classmate and business partner Ilya Eliseev.

“This is a guest house for our employees. Dmitry Anatolyevich sometimes stays there when he comes to Mansurovo, well, he needs to stay somewhere, don’t drive him 60 km to Kursk, to a hotel! You need to see this residence - a one-story wooden building of increased comfort,” FBK quotes Eliseev. These lands belong to the Mansurovo agricultural complex, whose leaders include the prime minister’s cousin, Andrei Medvedev.

FBK also calls “a private residence built personally for Dmitry Medvedev” the huge Psekhako recreation center in Krasnaya Polyana with a house with an area of ​​over 4 thousand square meters. The bath complex occupies a thousand square meters in the house. The total cost of the complex is 7 billion rubles.

In addition, the Sotsgosproekt Foundation owns the Skalisty Bereg company with a plot of 985 thousand square meters in the Krasnodar Territory. There are vineyards on this territory; According to FBK, tourists are not allowed there. At the same time, a quote is given from independent wine expert Arthur Sargsyan.

“And here the exclusivity of this project becomes clear. The relief here is such that if you stand with your back to the sea, you can imagine yourself in Tuscany. Soft contours of the hills, on the slopes of which there are even rows of vineyards. Exceptionally beautiful! In a word, the approach to the project is very serious. I think that everything at the “Rocky Coast” will eventually work out as it should,” says the sommelier.

The current director of the company, Andrei Skok, allegedly previously managed the Chateau de Talus winery in Gelendzhik, the ownership of which is attributed to the wife of the Minister of Agriculture, Olga Tkacheva.

FBK showed Medvedev's alleged winter residence in Krasnaya Polyana

Another organization, the Winter Olympic Sports Support Fund, owns the Psekhako residence, which is included in the federal program of preparation for the Olympic Games in Sochi.

“On four hectares of protected land there are several buildings, including a residence with an area of ​​4 thousand square meters. As in the story with Medvedev’s Plyos dacha, at the stage of Olympic construction the land lease was issued to the “Dar” fund. At the end of 2014, the property was donated to the unknown Winter Olympic Sports Support Fund,” reports FBK.

The fund's supervisory board is headed by Ilya Eliseev, who is also involved in the activities of other funds mentioned by Navalny.

“Dmitry Medvedev regularly visits this residence, as evidenced by photographs on his Instagram. He personally issues management, hiring, and purchasing instructions for the facility. He has been violating the law for at least three years by not declaring this property,” the authors of the investigation summarize.

Navalny: Medvedev’s funds twice won competitions for the purchase of land with fake competitors

Structures allegedly acting in the interests of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev have twice won competitions for the purchase of land, FBK claims.

The authors of the investigation report that both cases occurred in the Krasnodar region. In the first case, the competition was won by the Nautilus company, which is owned by one of the founders and director of the Svetlana Medvedeva Foundation for Social and Cultural Initiatives (FSCI), Dmitry Solovyov, and its only competitor was the Topgarden company, which is managed by Alexey Chetvertkov, director of Sotsgosproekt.

In the second case, the Dar fund won a competition against the Russian Broker company, which is also managed by Chetvertkov.

Thus, FBK claims, Medvedev’s structures received ownership of the site of the former holiday home of the Presidential Administration near the village of Olginka and a site in the area of ​​the Utrish Peninsula.

“Both times we resorted to criminal schemes: controlled companies provided false competition in competitions. The similarity of these stories, their connection with the administration of the Krasnodar Territory, the Presidential Administration, as well as with the foundation of Medvedev’s wife allow us to assert that the beneficiary of these transactions was Dmitry Anatolyevich himself,” FBK concludes.

FBK: Management Company "Dar" received money from businessmen and on credit from Gazprombank

In his investigation, Navalny explains how the Dar Foundation received money to buy a dacha near Plyos, houses on Rublyovka, a mountain residence and other real estate, as well as vineyards.

Thus, businessmen Leonid Mikhelson and Leonid Simanovsky donated 33 billion rubles to the fund. Alisher Usmanov “contributed with the estate - 5 billion rubles.”

FBK also says that the “Dar” fund has a management company “Orion”, formerly the management company “Dar”. In 2007, Gazprombank issued her a loan of 11 billion rubles - for two years, Dar became the bank’s largest borrower. At the same time, Medvedev’s main confidant, Ilya Eliseev, is the deputy chairman of the board of Gazprombank.

Bashneft structures, according to FBK, loaned Daru 3 billion rubles; In total, the fund received 20 billion rubles in small loans from various organizations.

“In total, the documents reveal about 70 billion rubles,” Navalny says in the video.

FBK: Medvedev owns a million square meters of vineyards in Italian Tuscany

As follows from the FBK investigation, the Cyprus offshore Furcina Limited owned by Ilya Eliseev - a member of the board of directors of Gazprombank, a fellow student, manager of all funds and the main confidant of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. According to the register, in 2012 this offshore company bought an Italian company Fattoria Dell Aiola S.r.l.

This company owns and operates its own vineyards and wine production in Tuscany, Italy. Thus, together with a company worth almost $10 million, the offshore received 1 million square meters (100 hectares) of Tuscan vineyards, olive groves and forests, as well as several thousand square meters of production premises and an ancient villa with 30 rooms.

The winery’s website indicates that in 2012 the company was bought by Russian entrepreneurs. There you can also find the name of the chief manager - this is Sergei Stupnitsky, director of the “Rocky Coast” - vineyards near Anapa.

FBK: the Dar Foundation bought the palace of Count Kushelev-Bezborodko in St. Petersburg, now there are luxury apartments there

In 2009, the mysterious company “Certum-invest” acquired ownership of a historic house in St. Petersburg - the pink marble palace of Count Kushelev-Bezborodko on Gagarinskaya Street with a facade in the style of the Italian Renaissance.

The only founder of the company was a certain Philip Polyansky, who did not disclose the names of the partners. A few months later it became known that the mansion had a co-owner - the Dar Foundation. According to FBK, the fund was headed by Polyansky for several years; he is a student of the previously mentioned Ilya Eliseev.

In 2016, after a long renovation, the building was put into operation: now it is an elite club house with 29 apartments; Some apartments have elevators for cars. Dar owns six apartments, the market value of which is about a billion rubles.

The non-residential premises in the house are owned by the FinconsultingK company, which, according to FBK, financed the purchase of land for an estate in the Kursk region.

Navalny: Medvedev twice named the yachts “Photinia” after the church name of his wife

FBK discovered that at different times two yachts called “Photinia” were owned by structures allegedly associated with Medvedev.

“Photinia is the church version of the name Svetlana. In Orthodoxy, the name Svetlana was long considered forbidden and at baptism it was changed to Photinia. So both yachts are named after Svetlana. An amazing coincidence,” says FBK founder Alexei Navalny.

The total cost of the yachts, according to Navalny, is $16 million. Both of them are registered to the company of Ilya Eliseev, who is repeatedly mentioned in the FBK investigation.

These are model yachts Princess 85 MY And Princess 32M. The first, as FBK notes, was photographed on the Volga near Medvedev’s supposed residence in Ples. The second one began to be used later.

“The start of operation of the yacht can be considered June 17, 2015. This is exactly one week from the moment you cleared customs. On this day the yacht turned on AIS. From that moment to this day, the yacht sailed to Ples four times: in July and September 2015, as well as in July and September 2016. September visits coincide with Medvedev’s birthday - he has it on September 14, and in July, apparently, the prime minister’s summer season simply opens,” reports FBK.

As proof that it is Medvedev who uses the yacht, FBK cites a photograph from the Scarlet Sails holiday in St. Petersburg, which was published on the Prime Minister’s Instagram. Based on the angle, Navalny suggested that the photo was taken from the river, although navigation on the Neva is prohibited during the celebration.

“It can’t be that they make one special exception for one special yacht, right? Let's watch the video from the event and we will immediately see a mysterious silhouette that catches our eye,” FBK continues.

At the 2:23:40 mark in the video you can see the silhouette of a yacht, which, as FBK suggested, is the Photinia belonging to Medvedev.

Medvedev's press secretary refused to comment on the investigation of the "opposition and convicted character"

The Anti-Corruption Foundation’s investigation into Dmitry Medvedev’s “residencies” is “pre-election in nature,” RBC quotes the Prime Minister’s press secretary Natalya Timakova as commenting.

“Navalny’s material has a pronounced election character, as he himself says at the end of the video,” said Timakova, unexpectedly mentioning Navalny’s last name. According to established tradition, Russian officials try not to mention the founder of FBK by name. “It makes no sense to comment on the propaganda attacks of an oppositional and convicted character who said that he is already waging some kind of election campaign and is fighting the authorities.”

FBK wrote a statement to the Investigative Committee against Medvedev and Usmanov about receiving and giving a bribe

Director of the Anti-Corruption Foundation Roman Rubanov sent a statement to the Investigative Committee against Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and businessman Alisher Usmanov, Vedomosti reports.

The statement claims that in August 2010, Usmanov transferred a plot of land in the village of Znamenskoye for 5 billion rubles to the Fund for Support of Socially Significant State Projects, allegedly associated with Medvedev.

“Since Usmanov’s business activities are significantly connected with government contracts, as well as with regulatory and non-regulatory legal acts adopted by Medvedev in relation to legal entities affiliated with Usmanov, there is reason to believe that the above transfer of real estate worth 5 billion rubles is a bribe,” it says statement.

Rubanov asks to initiate cases under Articles 290 of the Criminal Code (taking a bribe) and 291 of the Criminal Code (giving a bribe). In another statement, the director of FBK asked to initiate a case under Article 169 of the Criminal Code (embezzlement) in connection with the activities of the Dar Foundation, which, according to FBK, also acts in the interests of Medvedev.

The document states that the foundation does not have the right to dispose of property other than for the purposes specified in its charter, for example, it cannot transfer it to third parties without compensation. “Dar,” according to FBK, in 2014 transferred to the Gradislava Foundation a plot in Plyos, where, according to the founder of the foundation, Alexei Navalny, Medvedev’s residence is located. It is also alleged that the Dar Foundation donated a building in the village of Esto-Sadok to the Winter Olympic Sports Support Foundation.

Rubanov explained to Vedomosti that he submitted applications through the electronic reception of the Investigative Committee, they were assigned numbers 473586 and 473584. He sent similar applications to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Justice and the Presidential Administration.

Medvedev's alleged brother claims he received 'neither help nor hindrance' from prime minister

The general director of Seim-Agro, Andrei Medvedev, commented on RBC’s investigation of the Anti-Corruption Foundation, which claims that he, being the prime minister’s cousin, is one of the leaders of the fund, which owns the alleged residence of the head of government.

According to him, “he received neither help nor interference from the said person [Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev].”

“If this were really the case, as a true patriot of our state, I would be truly saddened. Such accusations have no basis. This is fiction and folklore,” he is sure.

“This is a purely personal question, I do not consider it necessary to answer it,” Medvedev responded to a request to comment on his family connection with the prime minister.

Navalny's ally told how the investigation into Medvedev's property was conducted

A co-author of the Anti-Corruption Foundation's investigation into the alleged property of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, in an interview with Meduza, described how the opposition came to the conclusion that the residences and yachts belong to the head of government.

“In Psekhako, we used a drone to photograph the pipes of a country house in the mountains and compared them with those that Medvedev posts on his Instagram. These are the same pipes. Regarding the yacht, we found the geolocation of this yacht over the past two years. She went to Plyos four times, where Medvedev has a residence, and twice to the Scarlet Sails festival in St. Petersburg. This is a holiday for graduates, a beautiful event, fireworks. Shipping is closed there at this moment. The only yacht for which an exception was made is the yacht "Photinia", with which Medvedev took his photographs and also posted them. All this is ironclad evidence,” says Alburov.

He noted that the quadcopter from which FBK employees filmed Medvedev’s alleged residences played an important role in the investigation. The investigation lasted six months, up to four people were involved in it, another six worked on “the website, video, graphics, music and other things.”

In addition, Alburov that the foundation was “really helped” by a pair of sneakers, from which FBK came to the conclusion that Medvedev is connected with Vladimir Dyachenko, who allegedly manages the prime minister’s assets.

FBK claims that funds allegedly associated with Medvedev do not submit reports in violation of the law

The funds, which the Anti-Corruption Foundation suspects of managing the assets of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, do not submit reports in violation of the law, Georgy Alburov, co-author of the FBK investigation, said in an interview with Meduza.

When asked by a journalist whether FBK had familiarized itself with the documents of charitable organizations, Alburov replied:

“This is an interesting question in the sense that we don’t know - they don’t publish their reports. They do not submit reports to the Ministry of Justice, as required by law. Our fund is renting, but they are not. This is a direct violation of the law. They can be found on the tax office website, but it is difficult to draw correct conclusions from the information there.”

The provisions on the reporting of charitable foundations are spelled out in Article 19 of the Federal Law “On Charitable Activities and Charitable Organizations”.

“For example, they [the funds] issue a cadastral valuation for real estate, and the estate on Rublyovka, with a market value of two billion rubles, is valued much lower,” Alburov continues.

In his opinion, FBK “collected enough facts” to answer the question “what does Medvedev have to do with it anyway?”

“How many people are there in the world to whom [businessman] Alisher Usmanov gives estates, and even a real palace on Rublyovka? Not much. Medvedev visited all these facilities and used them. We convincingly prove this,” says the co-author of the investigation.

He also said that 80% of the schemes related to Medvedev’s alleged property were found in 20% of the time spent on the investigation - six months.

“With the rest it was more difficult - we went from one legal entity to another, we didn’t see any connection. Then people from one of our schemes suddenly found themselves connected to companies from a completely different part of the scheme. It began to become more complicated and confusing, but with each new discovery it was clear: all these people we are talking about are directly related to Dmitry Medvedev,” he claims.

United Russia called the investigation a “vain attempt” by Navalny to remind himself

The FBK investigation about Dmitry Medvedev is a “vain attempt” by Alexei Navalny to remind himself, about this, as “Rain,” Deputy Secretary of the General Council of “United Russia” Yevgeny Revenko told reporters.

“The party believes that it is at least strange to comment on the statements and opuses of a person whom the court has repeatedly recognized as a criminal. It is well known that all the so-called investigations of this person ended in zilch, that is, in nothing. This is all another and futile attempt to remind ourselves. Moreover, the results of the latest public opinion polls are a death sentence for him,” Revenko is sure.

FBK investigation defendant Eliseev: the Dar Foundation is not associated with Medvedev

The Dar charitable foundation, which received an elite house on Rublyovka as a gift from businessman Alisher Usmanov, has no relation to Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, according to a message sent to Vedomosti by his classmate Ilya Eliseev.

“The recent news stories are an example of obvious political propaganda and have no real basis,” said Eliseev, who holds the post of chairman of the supervisory board of the Dar Foundation, the Fund for Support of Socially Significant State Projects (Sotsgosproekt), the Fund for the Support of Winter Olympic Sports and Foundation for Socio-Cultural Initiatives (FSCI). The latter fund has been led by the prime minister’s wife, Svetlana Medvedeva, since its founding in 2008.

“Commercial and non-profit organizations in which I am a shareholder, founder or manager are engaged in economic and other activities permitted by law in my interests or for charitable purposes. These legal entities are not associated with any political figures or government officials,” Eliseev is sure.

Peskov called the FBK investigation “not the first example of Navalny’s creativity.”

The Alexei Navalny Anti-Corruption Foundation's investigation into Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev's luxury real estate is "not the first example of the creativity of this famous convicted citizen," said presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov. This was reported by the Dozhd TV channel.

“This is not the first example of the creativity of this famous convicted citizen. There is nothing to add to what was said by the press secretary of the Prime Minister,” Dozhd quotes Peskov.

The president’s press secretary noted that the Kremlin was not familiar with the FBK investigation into Medvedev in detail, but “they saw the media reports.”

He's not Dimon for you

It was a huge job, and at first we were not at all sure that it could be done on our own. But we did. We found and filmed (!!!) all the residences in Russia and abroad, found the damn elusive yachts and scrupulously used geotags, photos from Instagram and archival records to establish where and who sailed on them. They were hiding from the FSO guarding the facilities. We spent hundreds of man-hours analyzing social networks and looking for the necessary photos. They shoveled through offshore documentation. We looked at domain names. We literally looked at every photo of the main character for a year to find the right sneakers and shirts (that’s where it all started). We went to Tuscany to photograph vineyards, and to the Kursk region to photograph cows.

Damn, we even bought the rights to the song by the group “Combination” to make this movie more fun for you to watch.

Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev is not at all the harmless and comic character he seems to be. Don't let it deceive you sleeping in meetings , badminton, or passion for gadgets.

This is a very cunning and greedy person, clearly slightly obsessed with residences and luxury real estate and, for the sake of owning them, created one of the largest corruption schemes in the country. And, we must give him his due, one of the most sophisticated.

We found, described and documented the existence of a network of charitable and non-profit foundations organized by Medvedev's proxies and relatives. The word “charitable” should not confuse: the only recipients of “help” here are Medvedev and his family.

They use the funds to receive “donations” (read: bribes) from oligarchs and state-controlled banks and spend the funds on the purchase of palaces, yachts and vineyards in Russia and abroad.

And yes - it's very clever. Who owns, for example, Medvedev’s secret dacha in Plyos, about which we did a lot of research? Formally, no one. The charitable organization is the Gradislav Foundation, which means there are not even individuals who are the ultimate owners, because the property of a non-profit organization ultimately belongs only to it, and not even to its founders.

In fact, everyone understands: the dacha belongs to Medvedev. She is protected by the FSO. The service department is located there. There is even an official no-fly zone above the Plyos dacha.

That is, the corruption scheme is based on the creation of a charitable organization with a reliable person (classmate, relative) at the head. After which you can safely pump the organization with money and buy palaces-yachts with it, without fear that someone will poke it in your face with a piece of paper where your name is in the “owner” column.

There’s just one problem: there can’t be too many reliable people. If there are a small number of individuals involved in the organization, financing and management of a bunch of charitable foundations, the main feature of which is the ownership of the property of Prime Minister Medvedev, then everything becomes clear: this is corruption.

Starting with these fun colored sneakers,

we have established and documented the entire corruption empire of Dmitry Medvedev, the funds that make up it, and his closest confidants.

This
— bribes from oligarchs Usmanov and Mikhelson;
- money from Gazprombank, which has been seen many times before to act as a “wallet” to cover the expenses of high-ranking officials (see the “Vinokur case” and “Sechin’s wife’s salary case”);
— transfers from other companies (for example, a subsidiary of Bashneft).

This money was used to build, purchase and maintain:

Medvedev’s family estate and agricultural complex in Mansurovo:

Mansurovo

Mountain residence "Psekhako" in Sochi:

Vineyards in Anapa and Tuscany:

Milovka, which we showed earlier:

And much more, which we talk about in our investigation. In its video version. And in its detailed text version with all the documents.

Here I will briefly talk about only one episode, which is enough to send both Medvedev and Usmanov to the dock.

Do you know how this object worth 5 billion ended up in Medvedev’s possession?

Alisher Burkhanovich Usmanov, one of the richest oligarchs in Russia with a fortune of 12.5 billion dollars, simply donates both land and a mansion to Medvedev’s foundation.

What should I call it? That's right: a bribe.

That's what we call it in our crime report. And in general, this entire investigation of ours, both as a whole and broken down into episodes, will be turned into statements of crimes.

Yes, we understand that now the authorities will do everything to prevent any steps that law enforcement agencies are obliged to take. That is, what happened with Chaika will be repeated. But, as they say, you have to live long in Russia. Sooner or later we will achieve our goal and see all the characters in the dock. And sitting next to them will be those who will block the investigation now.

However, even this is not the main thing now. You and I understand very well that the Kremlin will devote its main efforts not to working with “law enforcement officers” (otherwise Chaika and Bastrykin themselves don’t understand what to do), but to stop the spread of information about the investigation .

They have 100% control over their servants in uniform, but public opinion and the heads of citizens are not so easy to control. Yes, of course, zombie guy, that’s all, but nevertheless, with our joint efforts we can easily make a hole in the picture of the world of the average citizen of the Russian Federation.

Let's make efforts to achieve this together. Moreover, it has such an attractive and understandable format, with aerial filming. We must ensure that all those 20 million people below the poverty line look at Medvedev’s apartments with elevators for cars and angels for fireplaces.

Don't fall into the trap Why should I spread this link, everyone has already seen it" Not all. It is your link, your comment that is missing. It’s not enough to just throw it on Facebook today. Today. And then tomorrow. And just to be sure, in two days.

A couple of emails. SMS to your beloved grandmother. A letter to a classmate with the subject " look at Medvedev's castle in Italy».

By the way, I want to say that in social networks for older people, visual content of this kind works even better. Video clip about Medvedev's Milovka It has 4.2 million views on YouTube, and 7 million on Odnoklassniki. This is despite the fact that we ourselves did not post it on Odnoklassniki - people themselves stole it from their accounts.

If you don’t want to send it to your grandmother, but want to send it to a foreign friend, no problem - here’s a description of the investigation in English.

A separate appeal to journalists:

First of all, how much can you be afraid? You can't spend your whole life publishing what not scary.

Secondly, this is your traffic, your clicks, your circulation. People read nothing better than corruption investigations with such texture.

Thirdly, this is your chance to make your profession interesting and rewarding. Each episode of this investigation can and should be supplemented with its own story. Comment from an interested person. Just going to the scene of the event. We have revealed only the most basic things. Who knows, maybe you will get attached to something (like we do to sneakers) and find something that will make you the main journalist in the country. Your name will be mentioned in journalism departments when talking about how to do investigations.

In general, dear everyone, help. Our work has no meaning unless millions know about it. This is our joint project with you, and your contribution is no less important.

Well, don’t forget that I need your signatures in support of the nomination. The Anti-Corruption Foundation exists and does such investigations only thanks to. Support us if you think we are doing something useful.

They unite and protect each other to build palaces for themselves, and let us act together to regain our country.

Dmitry Medvedev's press secretary Natalya Timakova said that the Anti-Corruption Foundation's investigation into the prime minister's "secret empire" was underway. It has a “clearly expressed election character. According to her, it is “pointless” to comment on these accusations, Interfax reports.

Having connected various facts together, we eventually came to a whole grandiose corruption empire, where there are vineyards in Anapa, vineyards in Tuscany, a mountain residence, two estates on Rublyovka... It is difficult to describe this investigation in a few words, it is very large, and it simply shows that people spent 70 billion rubles on entertainment. Georgy Alburov

The director of the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) of Alexei Navalny, Roman Rubanov, sent on Thursday to the Investigative Committee of Russia (ICR) a statement to initiate a criminal case against Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and businessman Alisher Usmanov under Art. 290 of the Criminal Code (taking a bribe) and Art. 291 of the Criminal Code (giving a bribe). Vedomosti

Mansions, vineyards, yachts: Dmitry Medvedev broke the law?

The Anti-Corruption Foundation has published a large-scale investigation about Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. It follows from the material that people and charitable foundations associated with Medvedev own several luxury residences in Russia and abroad, agricultural land and two yachts. Alexei Navalny calls Medvedev’s actions a criminal offense; in an interview with Dozhd, he said that the prime minister “can be sent to the dock even tomorrow.” Deputy General Director of Transparency International - Russia Ilya Shumanov explained to Meduza that from the point of view of the letter of the law, it is difficult to blame Medvedev for anything.

Legal argumentation is the weakest point of the new Anti-Corruption Foundation investigation. I don’t see anything illegal in what Mr. Medvedev did. The fact is that due to gaps in Russian legislation, it turns out that all the assets listed in the investigation are registered in accordance with the law. That is, if you look precisely from the point of view of the letter of the law, everything is completely legal.

The assets discussed in the investigation belong to non-profit charitable organizations. For example, the residence donated by [businessman] Alisher Usmanov is his contribution to the NGO. Such organizations formally do not have owners and do not involve making a profit or withdrawing assets. These assets are managed by a hired manager, and it is difficult to determine who the real owner is. I will not evaluate the arguments related to sneakers and hacked emails, because they are outside the legal field and legal expertise.

Dmitry Medvedev himself is not mentioned in the documentation of the charitable organizations involved in the investigation. It mentions people close to the prime minister and, in particular, [his classmate] Ilya Eliseev. One could say that he is the nominal owner of these non-profit funds, but [in fact] he is quite a self-sufficient figure. Since 2005, Eliseev has held the position of deputy chairman of Gazprombank and is on the board of directors of Gazprom-Media, so he could have acquired all these assets himself and used them. It turns out that Medvedev may not be involved in all this.

The form of a non-profit organization is a corruption-prone hole in the Russian legal field. In this case, a legal scheme provides the opportunity for illegal enrichment and avoids liability. I think, when commenting on the investigation, Medvedev and Eliseev will point specifically to the legal side, and the ethical side will be behind the scenes.

FBK conducted a good, logical investigation. If the prime minister uses the property of the deputy chairman of the board of Gazprombank, who studied with him in the same course, this creates a situation of conflict of interest. This is a sign of a corruption offense for which there should be some kind of responsibility. But the investigation's findings do not mention a conflict of interest.

In a European country, this whole situation would be a reason for the resignation of the prime minister and cabinet, but in Russia this is unlikely.

“We found 80 percent of the schemes in 20 percent of the time spent”Interview with Georgy Alburov, one of the authors of the investigation into the property of Dmitry Medvedev

Georgy Alburov and quadcopter. Photo: Evgeny Feldman for FBK

- Did this investigation really start with a pair of sneakers seen on Dmitry Medvedev?

Of course, it started with many things at the same time, but a pair of sneakers is such a very important expressive part, it really helped us a lot. It turned out that the entire corruption scheme can be traced back to the purchase of this pair. These sneakers were ordered for one of the people closest to Prime Minister Medvedev. We began to look at what else there was behind this man - and immediately went out to vineyards, houses, including an estate in the old village of Mansurovo, where Medvedev’s ancestors lived. Yes, the sneakers helped us a lot.

Was the whole scheme drawn up quickly or was it difficult to find people close to the prime minister and identify them?

We found 80 percent of the schemes in 20 percent of the time spent. With the rest it was more difficult - we went from one legal entity to another, we did not see any connection. Then people from one of our schemes suddenly found themselves connected to companies from a completely different part of the scheme. It began to become more complicated and confusing, but with each new discovery it was clear: all these people we are talking about are directly related to Dmitry Medvedev. There were no particular difficulties with identification: lists of Medvedev’s classmates are publicly available and open. It was more difficult to identify the students, but we identified them by year of graduation.

There was still a question about one person; we could not verify him. Someone Vitaly Golovachev. He was in the insurance business in the late 1990s - he litigated on behalf of insurance companies, then disappeared for ten years and suddenly turned up as a top manager at Gazprombank, at the Meritage company, at the Dar charity foundation ( all organizations appear in the FBK investigation - approx. "Jellyfish"). Unfortunately, it was not possible to communicate with him.

- From your point of view, did all these people hide their activities very much?

Most likely, Medvedev was confident that he would transfer all the property to some non-profit foundations that do not pay taxes. He will appoint his classmates there, or their students, in cases where classmates are too pale, and this scheme will work. Yes, it is quite reliable in terms of management: all these people are close to Medvedev, super trusted persons. But the problem is that the number of such people is very limited. Such a scheme could have been identified a long time ago.

- How many people were involved in the investigation?

Six months ago we started... At first there were two people, towards the end four people were involved in the investigation, and another six were involved in the website, video, graphics, music and other things. I will say this: the amount of effort we spent on making all this look good, readable and remembered is even greater than the amount of effort [spent] on collecting facts.

- Tell us about the quadcopter; filming from it is a separate important part of the investigation.

The quadcopter is our faithful fighter, he has been with us since last year and helps us a lot. This is a basic model and can be purchased at any hardware store. It shoots well: we learned how to work with it and smooth out some technical difficulties. If you estimate roughly, 20 million people have seen the video that was made with its help. This is our indispensable tool and practically a team member.

-Are the rights to the songs of the group “Combination” the same beautiful detail as with the sneakers? Why do you need them?

It's not that simple! At some point we realized that we were using the song too many times. And I wouldn’t want YouTube to ban us for copyright infringement. So we went to the owners of these songs and formalized the purchase of the rights to use them. The copyright holders, interestingly, were very surprised; no one had ever bought the rights to songs from them in their lives; they didn’t even have a template agreement. It cost quite a bit of money, about 10 thousand rubles per song. It's worth it so we don't get banned.

With your investigation, you have convincingly proven that Dmitry Medvedev’s inner circle lives well. Do you think you have convincingly managed to prove that all these people were buying everything they could in the interests of the Prime Minister?

Yes, anyone can come to us and ask: what does Medvedev have to do with it? His classmates, relatives and friends are here. But we have collected enough facts for ourselves and everyone else to answer this question. Look: how many people are there in the world to whom [businessman] Alisher Usmanov gives estates, and even a real palace on Rublyovka? Not much. Medvedev visited all these facilities and used them. We convincingly prove this.

In Psekhako, we used a drone to photograph the chimneys of a country house in the mountains and compared them with those that Medvedev posts on his Instagram. These are the same pipes. Regarding the yacht, we found the geolocation of this yacht over the past two years. She went to Plyos four times, where Medvedev has a residence, and twice to the Scarlet Sails festival in St. Petersburg. This is a holiday for graduates, a beautiful event, fireworks. Shipping is closed there at this moment. The only yacht for which an exception was made is the yacht “Photinia”, with which Medvedev took his photographs and also posted them. All this is ironclad evidence.

Part of the property you are talking about is registered in charitable foundations. Have you seen their reports? Who are they helping at all?

This is an interesting question in the sense that we don't know - they don't publish their reports. They do not submit reports to the Ministry of Justice, as required by law. Our fund is renting, but they are not. This is a direct violation of the law. They can be found on the tax office website, but it is difficult to draw correct conclusions from the information there. For example, they issue a cadastral valuation for real estate, and the estate on Rublyovka, with a market value of two billion rubles, is valued much lower.

- How do you like the first one?reactionfor investigation?

I read the reaction of [Prime Minister Natalya] Timakova’s press secretary... You know, all my life I was sure that she was a rather reserved person from whom one could not hear words like “I will not comment on the words of this opposition criminal-politician.” What kind of state did she have to be brought to in order for her to utter such words? But our investigation did it - very nice. I hope there will be more substantive comments, including from law enforcement agencies.

May I live like this, Dimon!

I strongly advise you to watch the film of the Anti-Corruption Foundation about Medvedev’s dachas, vineyards, estates and yachts. And watch it not even to find out what specific estates, apartments and mountain ranges belong to Dmitry Anatolyevich, what they look like and where they are located. And watch in order to experience this feeling. This feeling will not necessarily be indignation, disgust or disgust. Although what you will see is criminal and shameful for the country. No! I'm talking about something else.

Look at all this splendor, and then listen to yourself. And inside, if not everyone, then very many, this insidious voice will sound: “Damn! Yes, I wish I could live like this!” Really, looking at the swimming pools and the car elevator and the marble staircase in the apartment like a palace, didn’t you want to live like that for at least a couple of days? And a mansion in St. Petersburg, and a 17th century villa in Italy, and a family estate in Kursk, and just an estate in Plyos! We are not holy ascetics or altruists. But for the most part we work a lot for little money. And here, on the screen, is a life that we cannot even dream of. But someone lives such a life, and we know this person, and he is one of those who controls us!

In the end, Navalny says words that are completely obvious, but no less correct: there, at the heights of power, all this is not a secret - because at the heights of power they all live one way or something like this, in accordance with the positions they occupy and the degree of their arrogance. And I would be surprised if there is anyone among them who lives differently. And this is exactly why they strive for power. That is why power is the main asset in Russia. Neither your talents, nor your brains, nor your resourcefulness or ingenuity - nothing matters here. Only position and authority matter.

In Russia there is no point in becoming Elon Musk, because people who change the world are not needed here. We need people here who will leave everything as before. Russia does not need people who earn money thanks to incredible technologies or modern production. Because it is troublesome and time-consuming, and the risk is high. You can make money much easier and much faster by being a prosecutor, judge, minister or even prime minister, as it turns out. More precisely, not to earn, but to receive.

In developed countries, money is important because it gives power. In Russia, on the contrary, the authorities give money. And the authorities can take away the money. Ask Khodorkovsky, who was the richest man in the country and set out to change something in politics - what happened to him and did he like it? That is why the current oligarchs do not make the same mistakes and will donate billions to all sorts of fake funds and give away estates in order to remain oligarchs, and not sew mittens in prison.

Navalny made a powerful film, but I doubt that this film will blow up society. And not only because a minority of the population will still know about it. And also because millions of our fellow citizens themselves would like to live like this, and to live like this, not thanks to their talents and enterprise, but in order to have power, and to have everything that this power can give in our country. And she can give anything - if only she had imagination and arrogance.

The Kremlin responded to the FBK investigation into Medvedev’s real estate within 24 hours

The Kremlin is not “in detail” familiar with the Anti-Corruption Foundation’s investigation into Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s real estate. The investigation was published the day before, March 2. The Cabinet of Ministers stated that it is of an election nature
Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov answered the question of whether the head of state Vladimir Putin is familiar with the investigation of Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation about the “secret real estate” of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, an RBC correspondent reports.

“We are not familiar with the details. We saw the media reports. These are not the first examples of the work of this famous convicted citizen. There is nothing to add to what was said by the press secretary of the Prime Minister,” he said.

The day before, commenting on the investigation, the press secretary of the head of the Cabinet of Ministers, Natalya Timakova, said that the material was of a clearly pre-election nature. “Navalny’s material is clearly pre-election in nature, as he himself says at the end of the video. It makes no sense to comment on the propaganda attacks of an oppositional and convicted character who said that he is already waging some kind of election campaign and is fighting the authorities,” she noted.

The FBK investigation was published the day before, on March 2. It says that Medvedev owns “huge tracts of land in the most elite areas, manages yachts, apartments in old mansions, agricultural complexes and wineries in Russia and abroad.”

The authors of the investigation draw their conclusions based on data from Rosreestr, extracts from various registers of legal entities, as well as publications in the media and posts on social networks. At the same time, the FBK points out that the real owner of the assets “is almost impossible to track, since, being registered with charitable foundations, they do not belong to anyone.”

Such objects, according to FBK, are, in particular, real estate in the village of Znamenskoye near Rublevo-Uspenskoye Highway, an estate in the Kursk region, a winery in Italian Tuscany and a number of others. Medvedev’s property is managed by his friends, classmates and confidants, the investigation states.

The effect of an unexploded bomb: how the media did not notice Navalny’s investigation into Medvedev

FBK head Alexei Navalny called the investigation into the “secret empire of Dmitry Medvedev” published by the Anti-Corruption Foundation the foundation’s most ambitious project. Russian media reacted differently to the investigation; many ignored the FBK publication. Not only federal television channels, but also the media, which previously paid more attention to Navalny’s publications, decided not to write or talk about the investigation.

TV and Radio

Federal TV channels “Pervy”, “Russia 1” and NTV never mentioned Navalny’s investigation on their broadcast, it follows from the data of “Medialogy”, prepared at the request of Dozhd. Among cable TV channels, RBC paid attention to the investigation (17 materials during the day). From information radio stations, the publication was discussed by “Echo-Moscow” and “Business FM” - 33 and 4 materials, respectively. Kommersant FM and Vesti FM did not talk about the investigation.

Newspapers

Of the newspapers published on Friday, only two publications wrote about Navalny’s investigation: Vedomosti and Novaya Gazeta. The newspapers Kommersant, Izvestia, AiF, RBC, Moskovsky Komsomolets, Komsomolskaya Pravda and Nezavisimaya Gazeta wrote nothing about the oppositionist’s publication.

In Vedomosti, the FBK publication was devoted to the column “New Feedings” by Maria Zheleznova and Nikolai Epple in the opinions section, a material retelling the essence of the investigation “Premiere Show” on the second page, as well as Maxim Trudolyubov’s column “Inverted Tradition.”

Novaya Gazeta published the commentary “Reception against the successor.” It called the investigation “weighty and uncompromising,” seeing in the FBK publication the beginning of Navalny’s election campaign. “Navalny’s investigation highlights a non-obvious fact: Dmitry Anatolyevich is really the second person in the state<…>To be honest, I don’t know who else in our country is allowed to have such a resource - financial and political,” writes Alexey Polukhin, editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta.

Internet media

According to the Yandex-news service, the first news about the investigation appeared in online media at 13.15. Among the first to write about him were Mediazona, Republic, Echo of Moscow, RBC, Tsargrad (as well as Meduza, which is not indexed in the service). On the Kommersant website (owned by businessman Alisher Usmanov, whom Navalny mentions in the investigation), at 15:48 a news item was published under the heading “The Anti-Corruption Foundation has published another investigation.” Forbes published an article about “the fate of the site from Alexei Navalny’s investigation.” Life only posted a comment from Medvedev’s press secretary Natalya Timakova.

The websites of three major news agencies responded to the investigation after Timakova's comment at 2:40 p.m. At the same time, RIA Novosti did not retell the essence of the investigation in its report. “Earlier, Navalny posted a film with an “investigation” against Medvedev. Its authors stated that they spent more than six months collecting material,” RIA wrote.

The scandal through the eyes of experts and “participants in the events”

Alexei Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation published an investigation dedicated to Dmitry Medvedev. The main topic is real estate objects (they were filmed by quadcopters from a bird's eye view) belonging to funds and companies that, according to the authors of the publication, are associated with the Prime Minister.

This caused a predictable scandal. However, all the components of the scandal also do not yet go beyond the predictable.

Representatives of the authorities refuse to discuss the “delirium of a criminal” (quote from United Russia General Council Secretary Sergei Neverov). Navalny parodies the statements of his opponents and calls for voting for himself in the 2018 elections.

The only thing that is fundamentally new so far is the scale of suspicions leveled against the prime minister and the leader of the ruling party. Actually, this makes us wait for some other development of events. After all, according to the laws of dialectics, the amount of compromising evidence must sooner or later transform into a new quality of the political situation. In short, there are two pressing issues on the agenda: will Medvedev be removed and Navalny imprisoned? We asked well-known Russian experts and troublemakers themselves to answer these and a number of other questions.

“The struggle for the position of prime minister has intensified”

Valery SOLOVEY, professor at MGIMO, political scientist, historian.

- Many people see in Navalny’s investigation what we usually call a “leak.” Do you have a different opinion?

This is a natural assumption that cannot but arise in “Byzantine” Russian politics. But, judging by the nature of the film, work on it went on for quite a long time. This is the fruit of serious work. The fact that someone from the competent authorities could know about this work, but did not interfere, is another matter. Of course, this may be beneficial for someone. It is believed that Medvedev's position has recently weakened somewhat - even before the film appeared. The struggle for the position of prime minister has intensified: there are several people in the upper echelons of power who are vying for this position. In addition, Dmitry Anatolyevich has long-standing ill-wishers, very powerful and influential, who are fighting against him to the best of their ability. All this, I emphasize, does not mean at all that these people are, as we say, customers.

Navalny follows his political logic. It is transparent - to compromise the most prominent representatives of the elite. This causes: a) attention to you; b) if not panic, then confusion among the elite. This is always beneficial to the opposition, there is nothing so tricky here.

- Do the contenders for the prime minister's post expect to replace Medvedev after the presidential elections?

In most cases, the point is that the issue should be resolved before the elections.

- To what extent will Navalny’s investigation affect the prime minister’s political prospects?

It will have an effect, but in a paradoxical way. This will allow him to strengthen his position. Because the rule in power is: never retreat and never make excuses.

- So Navalny, it turns out, is strengthening Medvedev’s position?

In fact, yes, and this, by the way, is also an argument against the fact that someone allegedly ordered him to investigate. So I think, I’m even convinced that Navalny acted completely independently, following his own logic. Well, those who knew about it simply did not interfere.

What consequences could this have for Navalny himself? Today the question of whether he will be imprisoned or not will be actively discussed.

This would be stupidity on the part of the authorities. Thus, she would sign for the correctness of those accusations and hints that appear in the film. So of course she won't do it. Well, as for Navalny’s participation in the presidential elections, the issue, in general, has been resolved. I can say that even before the film there was a clear consensus on this issue in the corridors of power: Navalny should not be allowed to participate in the elections. And the scandal caused by the investigation will only “cement” this anti-Navalnov consensus.

- Well, what goals does Navalny himself pursue in this case? Short term, long term?

Navalny believes that the fight against corruption can bring political success. This is evidenced by the experience of a number of countries, including the USSR; one can recall Yeltsin’s revelations of the nomenklatura. But, in my opinion, the situation in Russia is different now. An anti-corruption campaign can and does attract some attention to the person who is doing it, and promotes recognition. But it does not automatically turn him into a serious political figure.

Corruption in Russia today is the norm. There is a mass belief that power - simply because it is power - has the right to be corrupt. And it even has to be corrupt. From my point of view, the opposition should formulate a different message to society, based not on the fight against corruption, but on something else. On certain basic interests of society, which are quite easy to read. However, Navalny prefers to follow an anti-corruption strategy. I repeat, it is not without meaning, but politically it does not look that effective.

Sergei MARKOV, General Director of the Institute for Political Studies.

- Is the FBK information its own investigation or a leak?

I’m almost sure that Navalny’s structures helped process the materials, but the primary information came from other sources that attack Medvedev. These could be political figures who want to replace the Prime Minister. But some believe: on the contrary, these are figures from the prime minister’s entourage who are interested in leaving him. After all, the president will never allow the removal of a person against whom an external attack has begun.

Perhaps it was, relatively speaking, the CIA or British intelligence that gave the material to Navalny, or perhaps someone is masquerading as the CIA and British intelligence. Perhaps this is some kind of revenge for the fact that Medvedev did not approve state support for some business projects. The last version seems to me the most plausible - practice shows that most of these types of conflicts are related to business.

- How will the publication of the investigation affect Dmitry Medvedev’s career?

I think that Medvedev, or rather not even him, but one of the government departments, will be forced to provide a clear and precise explanation for all the assets that are mentioned in the investigation. But this most likely will not affect Medvedev’s political career.

- And if we talk about the influence on Navalny’s positions?

There is no legal way to interfere with Navalny’s publication; he cannot be prosecuted for libel. But he may become a personal enemy of Dmitry Medvedev... I do not expect any plus or minus for Navalny in terms of participation in the elections. But he attracted more attention to himself than he had before - in terms of positioning himself as the leader of the radical opposition against the authorities. I think that Kasyanov and Yavlinsky are jealous of Navalny.

Ilya SCHUMANOV, Deputy General Director of Transparency International-Russia, gave us a legal assessment of the FBK investigation:

In my opinion, there is potentially a situation of unresolved conflict of interest that is an offence. It concerns the relationship between the deputy chairman of the board of Gazprombank Ilya Eliseev and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev - both in the context of the existence of personal and friendly relations between them, and in the formal possibility of Mr. Medvedev’s influence on the organizations on the board of which Mr. Eliseev is.

It is extremely difficult to diagnose formal corruption violations in other stories. This raises more questions from the ethical side than from the legal side.

- Is it realistic to conduct an investigation due to a potential conflict of interest?

In Russian practice this is real. But Dmitry Medvedev is a political figure, he is the leader of the party, he is the prime minister. And Navalny is his opponent on the political agenda...

Strange parallels

The FBK investigation was published on March 2. Meanwhile, on February 15, “Interlocutor” published an article on its website under the heading “Medvedev’s GIFT. How are the prime minister and the financial-industrial group connected” - its structure is largely repeated in Navalny and Co. We talked about this strange coincidence, which made us talk about a centralized “leak,” with the author of the article in Sobesednik, deputy editor-in-chief Oleg Roldugin, and an employee of the FBK investigation department Georgy Alburov.

Oleg ROLDUGIN:

It's hard to believe, but we really worked in parallel, independently of each other. I don’t think that Navalny stole anything from me, although we wrote about many of the facts he mentioned in the film several years ago. He doesn't refer to them, but that's the format. There is another weak point in Navalny’s investigation, in my opinion - it mainly relies on photos from Instagram, geographical maps and extracts from official registers. However, there are not enough conversations with real people. In my next investigation on one of the topics raised by Navalny, there will be, for example, such a conversation, and I took up this topic even before Navalny.

- Still, what do you think, does Navalny collect information himself or do they bring him ready-made investigations?

He has all the information from open sources, why leak it - you just need to find it correctly.

Why did you take on Medvedev and right now, a year before the presidential elections? His supporters claim that all this is a deliberate “drain” of the prime minister...

A familiar topic. So there's nothing more to say. But in this case, I didn’t understand what the presidential elections had to do with it. Have we announced that Medvedev wants to compete with the president?

Question to Georgy Alburov:

- How do you explain the coincidences with the publication in Sobesednik? A coincidence seems unlikely to many.

Our investigation lasted six months: on several flights (of quadcopters over real estate - “MK”) everything was beautiful and green, very different from what is now visible on the street.

About the DAR fund (mentioned by FBK - "MK") They started writing back in 2011, they write about him regularly, but the same thing, without indicating a new texture. We learned about the Sobesednik investigation from the announcement of their article, and we were very nervous: someone had written to us before! But they only had one new part.

If you have been studying a topic for six months, then those at the top could not help but find out about it! It’s even easy to record the flights of quadcopters, not to mention wiretapping and so on.

Naturally, in our office everything is completely wiretapped. You just need to talk less and communicate more via secure means of communication. When we filmed with quadcopters, we were never caught. Perhaps they simply didn’t notice because the drone was flying high. Or one time we might have been noticed, but loud snow removal equipment was working nearby.

Read comments on the investigation by press secretary Dmitry Medvedev and press secretary of President Vladimir Putin.

Alexei Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation published a weighty and uncompromising investigation about Dmitry Medvedev. About dozens of organizations interconnected with each other, among which charitable foundations dominate, one way or another connected with classmates, relatives or confidants of the prime minister. About the property of these funds, which include huge estates ( Novaya Gazeta reported about some of them back in 2011, see - Ed. ), agricultural latifundia in Russia and abroad, and pleasant little things like luxury yachts and apartments with elevators for Lamborghinis. And about the sources of the funds with which all this luxury was purchased. In most cases, the money - and the bill runs to tens of billions of rubles - was simply given as a gift. The donors were large raw materials oligarchs.

The official representative of the Prime Minister, Natalya Timakova, reacted predictably: “Navalny’s material is clearly pre-election in nature, as he himself says at the end of the video. It makes no sense to comment on the propaganda attacks of an oppositional and convicted character who said that he is already waging some kind of election campaign and is fighting the authorities.”

We must admit that Natalya Timakova is right in absolutely everything.

Aristocratic silence has long been our ideal form of commentary, because real politics is non-public and public opinion in its coordinate system is approximately the idle correspondents of the press secretary of Rosneft. But there really is an election campaign going on in the country, for which literally no one knows the main thing: when the elections will take place (the date has not been officially set), and who will participate in them.

Navalny, despite all the legislative restrictions associated with the newly corrected criminal record for Kirovles, has officially declared his intention to run and is now busy forming regional support headquarters. He is in the game, and will remain in it even if he is not allowed to officially participate in the electoral procedures. It is clear that the first, second and third course that he is ready to offer the voter is precisely the fight against corruption. In this sense, the investigation into Medvedev might seem like a false start. But the situation of uncertainty, in which absolutely all political players now find themselves, makes strategy and the distribution of forces across the distance meaningless. Moreover, for Navalny specifically, it could easily turn into a stage at any moment.

Medvedev's role in the future campaign is much less clearly outlined, but it will be great. Navalny’s investigation highlights a non-obvious fact: Dmitry Anatolyevich is really the second person in the state.

And not only by proximity to the first person: Medvedev has formed his own circle, and the financial flows that feed him are in no way connected with the conditional cooperative “Ozero”. To be honest, I don’t know who else in our country is allowed to have such a resource - financial and political.

By the way, about the political resource. Medvedev is the chairman of the party in power, which has a virtual monopoly in the federal parliament and serious influence in most regions. In a hypothetical situation, when the incumbent president decides not to run for a new term, Medvedev becomes not just the obvious, but the uncontested candidate. In any scheme, including a successor one.

That is, a direct clash between Medvedev and Navalny during the election campaign is an exotic plot, but nevertheless probable.

And yet this is not the essence of the situation. Our politics is not done at polling stations or even in offices, but on the sidelines. And in this system, Alexey Navalny also has his own political weight. True, he is considered not an independent player, but an effective tool in the intra-elite struggle. There is a widely accepted version according to which his chronic problems with the Criminal Code are a consequence of his unauthorized departure from the narrow anti-corruption plot into pure politics.

The publication of the investigation into Dmitry Medvedev will give rise to a lot of versions about who benefits from it, and who, therefore, ordered it. Well-fed security officers and security services of the largest companies are already on their ears.

The customer, of course, will be found, because the situation in which he is absent is beyond the cognitive abilities of the people who form our elite. This means there will be a counterattack.

While we are watching the video from the helicopter, alliances are being formed and bets are being made.

The election campaign has truly begun.

FBK investigation into Medvedev’s “secret empire”. Main

Authors

The Anti-Corruption Foundation of Alexei Navalny (who recently announced his intention to participate in the presidential elections) published an investigation into property allegedly belonging to Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

FBK claims that Medvedev manages his assets through a network of non-profit funds run by his classmates. Among the listed objects: vineyards in Italian Tuscany, two yachts (managed by an offshore company) and a residence of 4.3 hectares of land, which oligarch Alisher Usmanov allegedly donated to a foundation managed by a classmate of Prime Minister Medvedev.

The FBK told Novaya Gazeta that the investigation had been prepared since October.

More details

FBK claims that Medvedev is associated with several expensive real estate properties that belong to charitable foundations and structures close to them. The managers of these facilities are Medvedev’s friends and classmates, as well as his “confidants.”

In particular, the investigation talks about estate in the village of Znamenskoye on Rublevka worth about 5 billion rubles, residences in the Kursk region, vineyards in the Anapa area, Psekhako mansion on Krasnaya Polyana, plot near the village of Maslovo on Rublevo-Uspenskoe highway, as well as about Milovka estate in Ples, mansion in St. Petersburg And two plots by the sea in the Krasnodar region.

Manor in the village of Znamenskoye on Rublyovka. Screenshot of FBK video

The investigation claims that Medvedev has a vineyard in Italy, and an offshore company associated with the Prime Minister owns two yachts.

Reaction

Medvedev's press secretary Natalya Timakova called the investigation "a propaganda attack by an opposition and convicted character." In her opinion, the investigation is clearly pre-election in nature.

Entrepreneur Andrei Medvedev, whom FBK calls “the prime minister’s cousin,” told RBC that he received “neither help nor interference” from the head of government.

“If this were really the case, as a true patriot of our state, I would be truly saddened. Such accusations have no basis. This is fiction and folklore,” said Andrei Medvedev.

Meanwhile, FBK employees sent a statement to the Investigative Committee demanding that a criminal case be opened against Medvedev.