He Is Not Dimon to You

He Is Not Dimon to You or Don't call him "Dimon" (Russian: Он вам не Димон, romanized: On vam ne Dimon) is a 2017 Russian documentary film detailing alleged corruption by Dmitry Medvedev who was Prime Minister of Russia at the time of release. The film estimates that $1.2 billion was embezzled by Dmitry Medvedev.[1]

He Is Not Dimon to You
Narrated byAlexei Navalny
Music by"American Boy" by Kombinaciya
Distributed byAnti-Corruption Foundation
Release date
  • March 2, 2017 (2017-03-02) (YouTube)
Running time
49.6 minutes
CountryRussia
LanguageRussian (with official Russian, English, French, Spanish, Polish and Finnish subtitles)
External video
"He Is Not Dimon to You" with English subtitles

Name

The name of the film is a reference to an interview with Medvedev's press secretary Natalya Timakova, where she criticized the use of the nickname Dimon when speaking about Medvedev on social media.[2][3] (In Russian, Dimon is a colloquial form for the name Dmitry, reminiscent of gangster nicknames.)

Content
Kushelev-Bezborodko Mansion in Saint Petersburg, Gagarinskaya Street, 1 or Kutuzov Embankment, 24

The film is divided into 10 chapters:

  • Chapter 1. About Medvedev's footwear which helped to identify his orders shipped to an address of a company controlled by Medvedev's college friend.
  • Chapter 2. How oligarch Alisher Usmanov gave Medvedev a castle in the Moscow region as a present.
  • Chapter 3. How Medvedev built a secret villa in the hills.
  • Chapter 4. How Medvedev built a 'patrimonial estate' and agribusiness
  • Chapter 5. How Medvedev became a winegrower and worked diligently to provide state support to the industry
  • Chapter 6. How the DAR Foundation obtained apartments worth a billion
  • Chapter 7. About the source of money for all that
  • Chapter 8. About two yachts of Medvedev found in an offshore financial centre
  • Chapter 9. How Medvedev got vineyards and a castle in Tuscany (Italy)
  • Chapter 10. Moral and conclusions

All chapters are published on the FBK web page.[4]

Views

He Is Not Dimon to You was posted on the YouTube channel on March 2, 2017. The video received about 1.5 million views in its first day. A week after, this surged to 7 million, exceeding the result of Chaika, another film by Alexei Navalny and the Anti-Corruption Foundation. In two weeks, the video had received over 13 million views. A month after release, the video had over 17 million views.[5] By May 2019, the video reached 30 million views.

Reaction

Russian state-owned media and most of privately held media have completely ignored the controversial revelations.[6] Initially there was no reaction from Dmitry Medvedev or other high-ranking Russian government officials.[7] On March 10, Medvedev blocked Alexei Navalny on Instagram. In response, Navalny led country-wide street protests on March 26, with a stated goal of forcing Putin and Medvedev to respond to Navalny's accusations. Following the end of March protest action, Medvedev claimed that the movie was shot specifically as an excuse for it, while accusations of corruption were 'made up on compote principle from weird stuff, nonsense and some pieces of paper'.[8]

According to Stephen Sestanovich, Navalny "has forced the president of Russia to stop pretending that he is against corruption. Others may rail against it, but for Putin, corruption is now officially 'fake news.'"[9]

An April 2017 Levada poll found that 45% of surveyed Russians support the resignation of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev,[10] while 33% of respondents were against. Newsweek reported that "An opinion poll by the Moscow-based Levada Center indicated that 67 percent held Putin personally responsible for high-level corruption".[11]

Defamation suit

On May 31, 2017, Navalny lost a defamation suit over the documentary, filed by Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov. A judge at Moscow's Lyublinsky district court ordered Navalny to remove his YouTube video and to publish a retraction, which Navalny stated he will not do.[12]

In a trial which lasted two days, the judge dismissed nearly all of the motions that Navalny had filed, including summoning Medvedev to testify. She did not allow any witnesses to appear in front of the court or review the documents that the investigation was based on. Navalny said that the verdict in Usmanov's favor should bring even more people to the streets at upcoming protests.[13]

Press coverage

The film was covered by many news organisations from across the world, including RBC,[14] Novaya Gazeta,[15] and Vedomosti[16] in Russia. The New York Times,[17] the Associated Press,[18] Bloomberg L.P.,[19] and The Rachel Maddow Show in the United States.[20] The Daily Telegraph,[21] Sky News,[22] Deutsche Welle,[23] NRC Handelsblad,[24] de Volkskrant,[25] Helsingin Sanomat,[26] Delfi,[27] Diena,[28] Kas Jauns,[29] Latvijas Avīze,[30] Neatkarīgā Rīta Avīze,[31] TV3 Latvia,[32] Delfi,[33] Ru.Delfi,[34] Lietuvos žinios,[35] and TV3 Lithuania[36] in Europe.

See also

References
  1. "Prime Minister Medvedev's empire. The new investigation from the Anti-Corruption Foundation". Retrieved 21 March 2017.
  2. "Наталья Тимакова: К женщине в российской политике больше требований, чем к мужчине : Голос России" (in Russian). Voice of Russia. 28 March 2013. Archived from the original on 28 March 2013. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
  3. "Timakova: He is not Dimon to you".
  4. "Docs in English".
  5. "Fantastic reaction of authorities on Medvedev's mansions and yachts".
  6. "Russians take to streets in thousands to oppose corruption". Financial Times. 2017-03-26. Retrieved 2017-04-05.
  7. "Opposition leader Alexei Navalny detained amid protests across Russia". The Guardian. 2017-03-27. Retrieved 2017-04-05.
  8. https://ria.ru/20170404/1491479101.html
  9. "Vladimir Putin is suddenly on the defensive against corruption".
  10. "Russian Polls Do Mean Something After All". Bloomberg. April 26, 2017.
  11. "Alexei Navalny: Is Russia's Anti-Corruption Crusader Vladimir Putin's Kryptonite?". newsweek.com. Retrieved June 7, 2017.
  12. "Russian opposition leader Navalny loses defamation case", ABC News, March 31, 2017
  13. "Russian opposition leader Navalny loses defamation case". The Washington Post. 2017-05-31. Retrieved 2017-06-01.
  14. Ilya Rozhdestvensky, Natalya Galimova (2 March 2017). "Фонд борьбы с коррупцией рассказал о "тайной недвижимости" Медведева" (in Russian). RBC Information Systems. Retrieved 2017-03-02.
  15. Aleksey Polukhin (3 March 2017). "Прием против преемника". Novaya Gazeta (in Russian). Retrieved 2017-03-03.
  16. Rinat Sagdiyev, Olga Churakova (3 March 2017). "Навальный обвинил Медведева в скрытом владении дорогой недвижимостью". Vedomosti (in Russian). Retrieved 2017-03-03.
  17. Ivan Nechepurenko (2 March 2017). "Kremlin Critic Says Russian Premier, Dmitri Medvedev, Built Property Empire on Graft". The New York Times. Retrieved 2017-03-04.
  18. "Russian opposition leader accuses premier of corruption". Associated Press. 3 March 2017. Retrieved 2017-03-04.
  19. Leonid Bershidsky (3 March 2017). "There's No Separating Wealth and Power in Russia". Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved 2017-03-03.
  20. Rachel Maddow (3 March 2017). "Vladimir Putin Critic Takes Big Risk Exposing Graft". MSNBC. Retrieved 2017-03-03.
  21. Roland Oliphant (2 March 2017). "Alexei Navalny accuses Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev of corruption". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2017-03-04.
  22. Roland Oliphant (3 March 2017). "Russian PM Dmitry Medvedev accused of corruption by opposition activist Alexei Navalny". Sky News. Retrieved 2017-03-04.
  23. "Russian opposition politician Navalny links PM Medvedev to billion euro property empire". Deutsche Welle. 2 March 2017. Retrieved 2017-03-04.
  24. Steven Derix (2 March 2017). "'Premier Rusland heeft geheim vermogen van minimaal miljard euro'". NRC Handelsblad (in Dutch). Retrieved 2017-03-04.
  25. Bert Lanting (3 March 2017). "Rapport Russische oppositieleider: 'schone' premier Medvedev enorm corrupt". de Volkskrant (in Dutch). Retrieved 2017-03-04.
  26. "Selvitys paljasti Medvedevin jättiomaisuuden: kartanot, viinitilat ja huvijahdit opiskelukavereiden ja serkun hallinnoimissa säätiöissä". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). 4 March 2017. Retrieved 2017-03-05.
  27. "Navaļnija fonds publicē pētījumu par Medvedeva bagātībām". Delfi (in Latvian). 2 March 2017. Archived from the original on 1 July 2018. Retrieved 2017-03-06.
  28. "Navaļnija fonds publicē pētījumu par Medvedeva bagātībām". Diena (in Latvian). 2 March 2017. Retrieved 2017-03-05.
  29. "Krievijas tiesa liek Navaļnijam aizvākt filmu par Medvedevu. Noskaties, kamēr vēl ir!". Kas Jauns (in Latvian). 31 May 2017. Retrieved 2017-05-31.
  30. Reinis Helmanis (6 March 2017). "Mazliet ķerts uz rezidencēm. Medvedevs – ne kaut kāds Dimons, bet nopietns korumpants". Latvijas Avīze (in Latvian). Retrieved 2017-03-06.
  31. "Krievijas tiesa liek Navaļnijam aizvākt filmu par Medvedevu". Neatkarīgā Rīta Avīze (in Latvian). 31 May 2017. Retrieved 2017-05-31.
  32. Aigars Lazdiņš (2 March 2017). "Medvedevs caur labdarības fondiem atmazgājis vairāk nekā miljardu eiro, paziņo Navaļnijs". TV3 Latvia (in Latvian). Archived from the original on 1 July 2018. Retrieved 2017-03-06.
  33. "Nematoma D. Medvedevo imperija: korupcija apipinti vynuogynai Italijoje". Delfi (in Lithuanian). 2 March 2017. Retrieved 2017-03-06.
  34. "Фонд Навального рассказал об усадьбах, яхтах и виноградниках Медведева". Delfi (in Russian). 2 March 2017. Retrieved 2017-03-06.
  35. Aidanas Praleika (2 March 2017). "Jis – ne "Dimonas", jis – milijardierius Rusijos premjero kėdėje". Lietuvos žinios (in Lithuanian). Retrieved 2017-03-06.
  36. ""Jis jums ne Dimonas": atskleistas tikrasis Rusijos premjero veidas". TV3 Lithuania (in Lithuanian). 2 March 2017. Retrieved 2017-03-06.
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