Dmitry Medvedev Unseen Pix

Dmitry Medvedev Unseen Pix

Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev Dmitrij Anatol'jevic Medvedev; Russian pronunciation born September 14, 1965) is the third and current President of Russia, inaugurated on 7 May 2008. He won the presidential election held on 2 March 2008 with 71.25% of the popular vote.

Medvedev was appointed First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian government on 14 November 2005. Formerly Vladimir Putin's Chief of Presidential Staff, he was also the Chairman of Gazprom's board of directors, a post he had held, for the second time, since 2000. Medvedev's candidacy was backed by then President Vladimir Putin. On 10 December 2007, he was informally endorsed as a candidate for the forthcoming presidential elections by the largest Russian political party, United Russia and several pro-presidential parties, and officially endorsed by United Russia on 17 December 2007. A technocrat and political appointee, Medvedev had never held elective office before 2008.

Early life
Medvedev was born to Professor of the Leningrad Institute of Technology Anatoly Afanasevich Medvedev (November 1926 — 2004) and Yulia Veniaminovna Medvedeva (née Shaposhnikova, born 21 Novermer 1939)[6], and brought up in Kupchino district of Leningrad. He grew up in a 40 m2 (430 sq ft) apartment (which was considered quite large for a family of three in the Soviet Union at that time).

Medvedev was a B student at the secondary school. His future wife, Svetlana Linnik, was his classmate. Medvedev was fond of sports, in particular weightlifting. He was a fan of English bands Black Sabbath and Deep Purple.
He graduated from the Law Department of Leningrad State University in 1987 (together with Ilya Yeliseyev, Anton Ivanov, Nikolay Vinnichenko and Konstantin Chuychenko) and in 1990 received his PhD in private law from the graduate school of the same university. Anatoly Sobchak, an early democratic politician of the 1980s and 1990s, was one of his professors, and Medvedev later participated in Sobchak's successful Saint Petersburg mayoral campaign. In 1990 he worked in Leningrad Municipal Soviet of People's Deputies under the supervision of Vladimir Putin. Vladimir Churov, later the head of the President election committee, also started under Putin at that time.

Between 1991 and 1999 Medvedev, in addition to his business activities and participation in the Saint Petersburg City Administration, held a position of docent at his alma mater university, now renamed to Saint Petersburg State University.





Personal life
Medvedev is married and has a son named Ilya (born 1996). His wife, Svetlana Vladimirovna Medvedeva, was both his childhood friend and school sweetheart. They married several years after their graduation from secondary school in 1982.

Dmitry Medvedev and his wife Svetlana Medvedeva.Medvedev is a devoted fan of English hard rock, listing Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd, and Led Zeppelin as his favorite bands. He is a collector of their original vinyl records and has previously said that he has collected all of the recordings of Deep Purple. As a youth, he was making copies of their records, although these bands were then on the official state-issued blacklist. In February 2008, Medvedev and Sergei Ivanov attended a Deep Purple concert in Moscow together.

Despite a busy schedule, Medvedev always reserves an hour each morning and again each evening to swim and lift weights. He swims 1,500 meters (approximately one mile), twice a day. He also jogs, plays chess, and practices yoga. Among his hobbies are reading the works of Mikhail Bulgakov and he is also a fan of the Harry Potter books after asking JK Rowling for her autograph when they met during the G-20 London Summit in April 2009. He is also a fan of football and follows his hometown professional football team, FC Zenit Saint Petersburg.

Medvedev keeps an aquarium in his office and cares for his fish himself. Medvedev owns a Neva Masquerade male cat named Dorofey. Dorofey used to fight with a cat belonging to Mikhail Gorbachev—who was Medvedev's neighbor—so the Medvedevs had to have Dorofey neutered.



Medvedev's reported 2007 annual income is $80,000, and he reported approximately the same amount as bank savings. Medvedev's wife reported no savings or income. They live in an upscale apartment house "Zolotye Klyuchi" in Moscow.
On the Runet, Medvedev is sometimes associated with the Medved meme, linked to padonki slang, which resulted in many ironical and satirical writings and cartoons that blend Medvedev with a bear. (The word medved means "bear" in Russian and the surname "Medvedev" is a patronymic which means "bear's"). Medvedev is familiar with this phenomenon and takes no offence, stating that the web meme has the right to exist.
Medvedev is recognized as the White Tara by Russian Buddhists.
Medvedev speaks English, but due in part to protocol he speaks Russian in interviews.