From reformist and Linkin Park fan to Kremlin provocative: who is Dmitri Medvedev, the former president of Russia who annoyed Donald Trump

Donald Trump shifts submarines after threat from Russia a few years ago, he was still considered a liberal reformist inside the Kremlin. Since the beginning of Russia’s offensive in Ukraine, however, former Russian President Dmitri Medvedev does not stop making bombastic statements, causing annoying answers from US President Donald Trump. In his accounts on Telegram and Social Network X, former President (2008-2012) and former Prime Minister (2012-2020), he has adopted a very aggressive tone since the beginning of the Russian offensive against Ukraine in February 2022. On Monday (28), Trump claimed to be disappointed with Moscow and gave a period of 10 days for a ceasefire with Ukraine. Otherwise, he promised to harden the sanctions against the Russian government. Medvedev answered the same day through a social network. The Russian accused the US president of playing the “Ultimatum game” and said the pressures represent “one step toward the war.” On Wednesday (30), Trump returned to the attack, called Medvedev “failed” and said that the Russian needed to be careful with the words. Hours later, Medvedev used his Telegram channel to say that the US president was nervous and threatened: “Trump should remember how the legendary ‘dead hand’ can be dangerous,” in reference to the system that activates Russian nuclear weapons even after the country’s leaders’ death. Dmitry Medvedev gives a press conference during an official visit to Le Havre, west of France, on June 24, 2019 Loïc Venance/AFP No one knows if Medvedev’s statements represent a hardline expression within the Russian elite or an indirect means of Moscow to challenge the West while preserving traditional diplomatic channels. Far from his previous image, of seriousness and righteousness, Medvedev now uses vulgar language to quote Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, celebrates the alleged decline of Europeans and often mentions the possibility of nuclear war with the West. His messages usually have little repercussion, something consistent with his little influence in Russia today, dominated by his co -religionist, President Vladimir Putin. But his provocations finally annoyed the president of the United States, who on Friday ordered the sending of “two nuclear submarines in the appropriate regions, by precaution, if these foolish and incendiary statements are more than that.” Trump explained to journalists that he reacted this way because former Russian president had threatened to use nuclear weaponry. After a few months when he seemed quieter compared to the Republican President, Medvedev mentioned the “dead hand”, a reference to an ultra -secret automated system created by the Soviet Union during the Cold War to assume control of the nuclear arsenal in case of the destruction of the command chain. Medvedev is also very critical of European leaders and accused German chancellor Friedrich Merz, before taking the post of “lying like (Joseph) Goebbels,” the Nazi Germany Minister of Propaganda. It also celebrated the difficulties faced by the “evil” president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. Russian President Vladimir Putin, talks to Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, before the opening match of the 2018 World Cup between Russia and Saudi Arabia Alexei Druzhinin/Sputnik/Kremlin/Pool via the proximity to Obama born in Leningrad (today St. Petersburg), like Putin, as Putin, Medvedev, with jurist formation and considered one of the leaders of the liberal wing of “Putinism”, made his entire career in the shadow of his mentor. However, he was marginalized by the rival’s rise of the “Siloviki” (military and security services). In the 1990s, Medvedev joined the St. Petersburg City Hall Committee, then commanded by Putin, who transferred him to Moscow in 1999. In 2000, Putin was elected president and appointed Medvedev as chief of the Kremlin Office. Five years later, he assumed the position of vice-prime minister. In 2008, Medvedev was elected president – Putin did not compete, as he could not have more than two consecutive terms at the time. But in what was then called “permutation,” Putin was his prime minister before resuming the head of head of state in 2012. As president, Medvedev was close to his then American colleague Barack Obama and in 2010 expressed his desire to resume his relationship with the United States. A fan of the American group Linkin Park, he at the time had an image of modernity and even visited the Silicon Valley, where he received an iPhone from Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, and opened an account on Twitter (now X) at the company’s headquarters. In international politics, the approach with Washington translated into the abstention of Russia (instead of the veto) into a 2011 vote from a UN Security Council resolution over Libya. The decision, which allowed NATO to initiate military intervention that led to the overthrow of Muammar Kadhafi, did not please Putin, then Prime Minister and actually stronger politically than the successor. In 2012, Medvedev became Prime Minister after Putin’s return to Kremlin and gradually lost protagonism. In 2020, he was deprived and since then he has only a voice with his provocative messages.

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