Dmitry Medvedev: Defender of the Kremlin

On August 1, U.S. President Donald Trump wrote on the social media that he had ordered two “nuclear submarines” to be positioned in “the appropriate regions”, in a direct threat to Russia. Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of Defence, reposted Mr. Trump’s post. The reason for Mr. Trump’s escalatory move: back-to-back social media posts by Dmitry Medvedev, a former Russian President and Prime Minister. Mr. Trump also slammed the “foolish, inflammatory and provocative” statements by Mr. Medvedev.

Mr. Medvedev had evoked the fabled Dead Hand mechanism (also known as ‘Perimeter’), a secretive semi-automated Russian command system that could launch a nuclear strike if its leaders were killed in enemy attacks.

Born on September 14, 1965 in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), Dmitry Medvedev is the son of professors Yulia and Anatoly Medvedev. He earned a degree in law and then completed post-graduate studies at Leningrad State University, graduating in 1990. In 1989, he married Svetlana; their son Ilya, now 29, joined the United Russia Party of Vladimir Putin in 2022.

A PhD in law, Mr. Medvedev taught for nine years at the St. Petersburg State University. During this time, he also worked as an adviser to the city council, and in 1991, he joined the legal team working for the then Mayor of St. Petersburg, Anatoly Sobchak. It was here that he met Mr. Putin.

Mr. Putin became the acting President of Russia in December 1999, and Mr. Medvedev was tapped to become a member of his team. In 2000, he led Mr. Putin’s presidential campaign, and was appointed the Deputy Chief of Staff to the Presidential Executive Office. In November 2005, he became the first Deputy Prime Minister, and was named by Mr. Putin as his successor in 2007. On May 7, 2008, Mr. Medvedev became the President of Russia, for a one-term stint since Mr. Putin was barred under the then Constitution from occupying the post for a third consecutive term. Soon after his inauguration, he nominated Mr. Putin as his Prime Minister.

Mr. Medvedev had campaigned with the slogan “Freedom is better than no freedom,” and during his stint as President, he undertook several reforms, such as the decriminalisation of defamation. He negotiated with the then U.S. President, Barack Obama, to reduce the number of nuclear warheads in the two nations, and presided over Russia’s accession to the WTO. He also announced an end to counterinsurgency operations in Chechnya. He was at the helm when war broke out in Georgia in 2008.

New role

Mr. Putin returned as President in March 2012, and Mr. Medvedev became the head of the United Russia party and the Prime Minister of Russia, occupying this position from May 8, 2012 to 2020. He slowly faded into the background and eventually resigned as Prime Minister in 2020.

Post this, Mr. Medvedev was appointed as the deputy of the newly created National Security Council, an advisory body with Mr. Putin at its head.

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Mr. Medvedev has been a strong supporter of Mr. Putin’s actions. He started a Telegram channel soon after the invasion, becoming Russia’s most popular blogger by the end of 2022. This also turned around his image in the eyes of the public: from a public trust rating of 23% in 2021 from pollster VTsIOM, he notched a rating of 45.7% in June 2025.

While Mr. Trump and Mr. Medvedev have sparred before, the current exchange was sparked by Mr. Trump’s post on July 29, warning that the U.S. would sanction Russia in 10 days if it did not take measures to end the war with Ukraine. Mr. Medvedev called this a “theatrical ultimatum”, and said “each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war”. He also warned that Russia was not “Israel or even Iran”, and warned Mr. Trump to not “go down the Sleepy Joe road.” In response, Mr. Trump called him “the failed former President of Russia, who thinks he’s still President”.

Mr. Medvedev responded via a message on Telegram, “If some words from the former president of Russia trigger such a nervous reaction from the high-and-mighty president of the U.S., then Russia is doing everything right and will continue to proceed along its own path.”