Of course, we couldn’t ignore one of this week’s biggest stories — Medvedev’s “response” to our investigation.
Everyone had a good laugh about the compote and made a million jokes on Twitter, but the issue is actually very important — and a little sad. Once again, they’re treating us like complete idiots with the attention span of a goldfish.
Palaces gifted by oligarchs? Yachts? Vineyards? Offshore companies? No, we heard nothing about any of that.
Instead, Medvedev plunged into conspiracy theories — setting off down the well-worn (and foil-lined) path of “who benefits from this?” Then he spouted some nonsense about compote. He also made a great show of “revealing” Navalny’s political ambitions and his intention to run in the presidential election. We’ve already opened 12 campaign offices across Russia, and Medvedev has only just figured it out.
Dmitry Anatolyevich, ever the skilled tactician, of course managed to choose a moment when Alexei Navalny couldn’t personally respond to his remarks (he’s in detention for 15 days). But when has that ever stopped us? We drew lots, appointed Zhora Alburov acting video blogger, and recorded a response video. Let’s congratulate Georgy on his debut and take a look at a detailed breakdown of what the prime minister told us the day before yesterday:
For those who prefer reading to watching ~~Georgy~~, here are the key takeaways from this strange press conference at the Tambov Bacon plant.
More than a month has passed since we published our investigation, and Medvedev still has not responded. Tens of thousands of people have rallied across Russia, and Medvedev is still silent. That’s the only way to put it. What Medvedev came out with the day before yesterday was not a response, not even a comment — just a pathetic little nothing. It doesn’t count. Medvedev must answer.
What Medvedev is doing is replacing a whole set of very important and uncomfortable questions — where did he get the yachts, the palaces, the vineyards? — with one simple, idiotic one: “Who benefits from this?” It’s nothing more than petty trickery. We made a very detailed video about the supposed client, the budget, and the global conspiracy — watch it if you haven’t already. This benefits 146 million Russians, minus Medvedev himself, Putin, and all those crooked United Russia party officials.
Particularly pathetic is the moment when Medvedev explains that what REALLY drives Navalny is political ambition and that he wants to become president. What’s more, he reproachfully notes that Navalny is “not ashamed” of wanting to take part in elections. This is presented as a minor sensation and as universal proof that Navalny cannot be trusted. In Medvedev’s view, if a person runs in an election, then everything he says is a lie. But here we should show a little humanity and try to understand Dmitry Anatolyevich’s predicament. To you and me, that logic seems absurd. But in his head there are no elections, no voters, no campaigning, no platforms. In Medvedev’s world, the president is appointed by Putin. Then Putin decides that’s enough and it’s time to hand the chair back. In Medvedev’s world, everything else is considered something to be embarrassed about.
What matters now is not letting ourselves be thrown off course, and continuing to insist — firmly and consistently — on answers to the specific allegations that we, the Anti-Corruption Foundation, have made against Medvedev. The compote is uninteresting. “Private investors” are uninteresting. “This character’s political ambitions” are also uninteresting. What is interesting is the yacht Fotinia, which Medvedev regularly uses and moors near his dacha in Plyos. That dacha is also interesting — why was it built with money from commodities oligarchs Mikhelson and Simanovsky? Another dacha, on Rublyovka (an elite residential area outside Moscow), is interesting too — why exactly did Usmanov gift it to a sham foundation run by Medvedev’s best friend? The network of these pseudo-charitable foundations is interesting too: they have tens of billions in their accounts, but no offices. Ilya Yeliseyev, deputy chairman of Gazprombank, is interesting, as is Gazprombank itself, which issues loans to Medvedev’s foundations, after which the money flows into Yeliseyev’s offshore company. It’s interesting why Medvedev stays every winter at the Psekhako mountain residence, which is registered to one of these foundations. It’s interesting why Medvedev personally gives instructions on buying decanters and wine. It’s interesting who pays for all this. It’s interesting why Medvedev does not declare any of it.
These are the questions we must demand answers to. We must demand a parliamentary inquiry, an investigation by the Investigative Committee and the Prosecutor’s Office, an investigation by the FSB (they certainly know what’s going on), and above all, answers from Dmitry Anatolyevich himself. We are not goldfish in an aquarium; we are the people who pay Medvedev’s and Putin’s salaries. And they are accountable to us, and to us alone.