The former Russian Prime Minister and President has been in the public eye in recent days after he entered into a"discussion" with US President Donald Trump. Regarding Medvedev's statements, as Trump stated,"he ordered two nuclear submarines to be positioned in the appropriate regions just in case, if these stupid and inflammatory statements are more than that".

In March 2017, the anti-corruption foundation of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny published one of its most explosive investigations - the film"Don't call him Dimon", which exposed a network of residences, vineyards and yachts connected to Dmitry Medvedev.

Navalny's team uncovered a scheme according to which Medvedev allegedly concealed his wealth using humanitarian foundations run by his friends and family members. The film had 47 million views and caused massive protests against corruption.

However, 's business empire remained intact. Today, eight years later, a new investigation by journalists from the"System" project reveals that the foundations associated with the former president have only additionally enriched, writes the independent Russian portal"Meduza" based in Latvia.

Medvedev's new image and new influence

At the beginning of 2022, Dmitry Medvedev was effectively in political retirement. Although he held titles such as deputy chairman of the Security Council and chairman of the United Russia party, he had little real influence. However, Russia's all-out invasion of Ukraine opened the door for him: it was a way to get rid of the increasingly unpopular - and even dangerous - image of liberals and regain a position of power.

He started a Telegram channel on the 19th day of the war, where he started threatening Ukraine and Western countries, insulting their leaders and citizens.

The strategy worked. Today, his Telegram channel has almost 1.7 million followers and is the first in reach among all Russian-language accounts. His ratings are rising again.

Currently, he is not only the deputy of the Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Security Council, but also in the Military-Industrial Commission - a position that seems to have been created especially for him. He also chairs the Board of Directors of Rostelecom, travels to meetings with the Chinese leadership, and lectures geopolitics to school children, directly quoting his offensive Telegram posts, such as the one about"Atlantic impotents" (a derogatory term suggesting that the NATO alliance is weak and powerless).

The political turn also brings financial benefits

Since the beginning of the war, humanitarian foundations associated with Medvedev have recorded a drastic influx of money. In the period from 2015 to 2023, these organizations received between 2 and 9 billion rubles per year (from 25.5 to 114.5 million dollars at today's exchange rate). In 2023 and 2024, that figure exploded : 52 billion and 79 billion rubles (661.6 million and one billion dollars).

At the end of last year, 15 foundations linked to Medvedev by the System research project - including some previously discovered by the Anti-Corruption Foundation - held a total of 86.4 billion rubles ( $1.1 billion ) in their accounts.

However, according to"Sistem", donating to those foundations is not simple. Their bank details are not publicly available, and only two of the 15 foundations have a website. In an earlier film,"Don't Call Him Dimon," Navalny's team claimed that Medvedev's foundations received donations from big businessmen such as Alisher Usmanov, as well as loans from Gazprombank.

Medvedev then dismissed the accusations as"nonsense", but there was no concrete answer. Neither he nor the people from the foundation answered the questions of the"Sistem" editorial office.

War, wine and a view of the coast

In the spring of 2023, a new foundation called"Our Justice" appeared in Russia. It was founded by organizations associated with Medvedev, and his son, Ilya Medvedev, is involved in its work. The foundation was established to support the Russian military and civilians in"special military operation zones". According to her own reports, she spent 2.4 billion rubles ($30.5 million) for these purposes, writes"Meduza".

"Naša Pravda" is also involved in other projects, such as cleaning up the oil spill near the coast of Anapa - the area where one of Medvedev Sr.'s hidden businesses is located: the vineyard"Skalist Berek" ("Rocky Coast").

Just a 7-minute drive from the vineyard, 100 meters from the coast, there used to be the Shingari resort. Since 2022 is the owner of FinkonsaltingK (FKK), which is controlled by a foundation from Dmitry Medvedev's circle. In order for the company to expand, the demolition of the existing buildings began.

It is not known what will be built on that site - rumors are circulating that a new private residence is being built for Medvedeva. He had previously tried to establish himself in the Anapa region, but those plans fell through after protests by environmentalists and locals. At that time, the"Dar" foundation, associated with Medvedev, planned to build a villa on the protected coast of the Black Sea.

Old and new luxury

Already in 2017, Navalny's team identified several Medvedev houses and properties:

The same foundations owned two yachts and two vineyards -"Skalisti Berek" near Anapa and another one in Italy. According to Sistema, almost all of these properties are still under the control of the same network of organizations - and new ones have been acquired in the meantime.

As of 2021, one of the foundations -"Nevsky" - acquired 16 hectares of land on the coast of the Baltic Sea in Kaliningrad, a cottage in the village of Komarovo near St. Petersburg (where another cottage is reportedly planned to be built), as well as an estate in the city of Pavlovsk, where Medvedev spent summers with his mother as a child. Other foundations expanded vineyards in the Krasnodar Territory and acquired a new yacht, built in the United Kingdom.

"Sistem" also revealed that the company that bought the Shingari resort - FKK - is the sole creditor of the company "Arktik Invest". This firm, founded in 2022, presents itself as a family investment fund for asset management.

One of the co-owners is Dmitry Grigoriev, the son of a St. Petersburg official connected to Putin's inner circle, who also sits on the boards of directors of six foundations linked to Medvedev. This, according to"Sistem", indicates that Dmitry Medvedev's informal network has now been extended to include a private investment fund.