Prime minister of russia

Medvedev has been on quite a political journey in recent years. Back in 2008, when he became Russia’s president, he promised modernisation and liberalisation, and frequently spoke of his love for blogging and gadgets. He even visited Silicon Valley and received a new iPhone 4 from Steve Jobs. Now, he is an enthusiastic participant in the macho posturing and genocidal rhetoric that have become the main currency of political discourse in wartime Moscow. “I’m often asked why my Telegram posts are so harsh,” wrote Medvedev recently. “Well, I’ll answer: I hate them. They are bastards and degenerates. They want us, Russia, to die. And while I’m still alive, I will do everything to make them disappear.” He did not specify whether the “they” in question referred to Ukrainians, western politicians, or both. Medvedev’s physical transformation is as extraordinary as his ideological shift: a decade ago he was boyish, nerdy and seemed almost charmingly awkward wearing a suit and conducting the business of state. Now he looks jaded and puffy-faced, his eyes glazed over as he launches tirades against the west. Medvedev’s rebooted persona is an apparent attempt to retain political relevance in a climate that has darkened significantly in the decade since he left the presidency. “He’s trying to save himself from political oblivion by out-Heroding Herod, and consequently posturing as a candidate in a Kremlin Apprentice show,” said Ekaterina Schulmann, a Russian political scientist at the Ro...

BEIJING, May 23 (Reuters) - Russia's prime minister signed a set of agreements with China on Wednesday during a trip to Beijing, describing bilateral ties at an unprecedented high, despite criticism of their relationship in the West as the war in Ukraine drags on. Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, the highest-ranking Russian official to visit Beijing since Moscow sent thousands of troops to Ukraine in February 2022, held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang. With the war in Ukraine in its second year and Russia increasingly feeling the weight of Western sanctions, Moscow is leaning on Beijing for support, far more than China on Russia, feeding on Chinese demand for oil and gas. The pressure from the West has shown no sign of easing, with the "Today, relations between Russia and China are at an unprecedented high level," Mishustin told Li in their meeting. "They are characterised by mutual respect of each other's interests, the desire to jointly respond to challenges, which is associated with increased turbulence in the international arena and the pressure of illegitimate sanctions from the collective West," he said. "As our Chinese friends say, unity makes it possible to move mountains." The memorandums of understanding signed included an agreement to deepen investment cooperation in trade services, a pact on export of agricultural products to China, and another on sports cooperation. Russia's energy shipments to China are projected to rise 40% this...

When President Vladimir Putin named little-known former tax chief Mikhail Mishustin as his prime minister a year ago, he stunned the country. In replacing Dmitry Medvedev — a political heavyweight and former president, but one tarnished by allegations of serious corruption — Putin had chosen a man few in Russia or abroad had even heard of. “Not one prognosticator would have named him as a potential successor,” Andrei Kolesnikov, head of the Russian Domestic Politics and Political Institutions Program at the Carnegie Moscow Center think tank, wrote in a recent report. Prior to his ascension to the number two spot in Russian politics, Mishustin’s name had barely appeared in the international press. The Financial Times had once profiled the tax service he had headed for a decade, winning plaudits for his commitment to technological modernisation of the department, but Mishustin himself was a virtual unknown. Even in his home country the talented technocrat with a background in IT and a gift for making the right connections at the right time was anything but a household name. Nevertheless, despite being initially seen by some as a placeholder prime minister, in the year since his appointment Mishustin has seen his star rise, asserting his control over government appointments while seeing his popularity tick upwards to rival even his boss. While Mishustin’s top-level government career is still young, some experts are predicting he might be destined for a long career at the summ...

Medvedev wearing Nike Air Max trainers. Photograph: Handout Medvedev, it was claimed, used a friend to do his online shopping. Photos showing the prime minister wearing a pair of Nike trainers seemingly confirmed this. The same friend allegedly acted as frontman for Medvedev’s hidden assets. The film alleged that the prime minister embezzled $1.2bn. The investigation was compelling and funny. It included footage of the diminutive Medvedev Corruption is not unusual among top Kremlin officials. Medvedev Putin’s constitutional shake-up on Wednesday appears to signal the end of Medvedev’s career in frontline politics. Medvedev has a new job: deputy head of the security council. The changes suggest that power will remain with Putin once his fourth presidential term concludes in 2024, although for now Putin’s future role is unclear. It is a humiliating end for Medvedev, Russia’s third president after Boris Yeltsin and Putin. When Medvedev got the job in 2008, western observers looked in vain for signs that he was a more liberal figure than Putin. After trying to reset relations with Moscow, the Obama administration concluded that any differences were stylistic only. In 2008 the US embassy sent the State Department a joke that was doing the rounds in Moscow. Putin had Medvedev’s old job of prime minister. The question occupying Russian and foreign pundits was: which one of them was Russia’s actual ruler? There was said to be a progressive Medvedev camp inside the Kremlin. But it ...