The Ukrainian hacktivist group, Cyber Resistance, known for their high-profile hacks targeting Russian war criminals, the Russian military-industrial complex, and top-level Russian politicians, has delivered a trove of e-mail correspondence to the international intelligence community InformNapalm. This data dump comes from one of Dmitry Medvedev’s six personal aides. Medvedev, the Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, served as Russia’s President from 2008 to 2012, and is the Chairman of the United Russia political party.
The hacktivists revealed that they had breached Medvedev’s inner circle’s communications in early 2024 and kept the accounts under constant surveillance for six months. While some of the acquired information remains classified, select pieces of interest to the global community will be exclusively published on InformNapalm’s multilingual website.
During Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Dmitry Medvedev has repeatedly issued nuclear threats against Western nations.
That is why, on June 22, as we were preparing this article for publication, we codenamed Medvedev “Nuclear Teddy Bear”. This moniker blends his nuclear bluffing with his surname, “Medved”, which means bear in Russian. Yet, this menacing bear attitude is just hot air. Without the carefully crafted statements from his less-than-brilliant aides, Medvedev struggles to articulate even a few coherent words during his public appearances.
Key to shaping Medvedev’s public image are shadowy figures drafting his speeches, penning his documents, and pompous, threat-filled tweets.
One such figure is Alexey Lvovich Zaklyazminsky, an aide to Dmitry Medvedev.
While monitoring Zaklyazminsky’s mail, Ukrainian hackers codenamed him “Tinfoil Hat.” The team was struck by his genuine belief in conspiracy theories and his irrational fear of Wi-Fi networks, which he claims are the “greatest threat to the health of the Russian children.” To support his outlandish views, he even collects pseudoscientific publications. Ironically, the most damaging influence on Russian children’s minds seems to be the Russian education system itself, hell-bent on grooming them as cannon fodder for Russia’s future aggressive wars in Europe.
Zaklyazminsky keeps a low profile. According to the Russian Security Council’s website, he has been “working in the education system of Moscow Oblast” since 1992. However, a closer examination of his employment record book, found among his correspondence, reveals an interesting story. Zaklyazminsky began his career as a biology teacher at secondary school No. 10 in Zhukovsky.
His rise through the ranks was swift. Within just five years, he transitioned from teaching to a civil servant role in the education system. He first served in the Education Department of the Zhukovsky City Hall and later in the Government Office of the Russian Federation where he rose to head the Department of Science, High Technologies and Education. Before becoming Medvedev’s aide, he worked at the National University of Science and Technology (MISiS), formerly known as the Stalin Moscow Institute of Steel.
Analyzing Zaklyazminsky’s biography and correspondence reveals that he primarily assists Medvedev in the fields of education and science. However, Zaklyazminsky’s scientific credibility is rather dubious. For instance, recently, he has been collecting a variety of pseudoscientific articles claiming that cell phones affect children’s personalities. Zaklyazminsky is convinced that these devices, rather than Russian propaganda, are turning schoolchildren into “zombies.”
Here’s an example of these “scientific” publications found in his emails:
Another article saved by Alexey Lvovich asserts that due to digitalization, “human offspring do not perceive other humans as fellow beings.”
This offers a glimpse into the “spirit of a true Russian scientist” that Zaklyazminsky embodies. With this understanding, we can now move on to his role as Medvedev’s aide.
Behind the scenes of “Nuclear Teddy’s” office
According to documents analyzed, Zaklyazminsky also oversees all of Medvedev’s engagements and activities. For instance, in January 2024, the Skolkovo Foundation presented its plans for the year, including the Open Innovation 2024 forum (see PDF presentation), where Medvedev was to speak alongside American economist Jeffrey Sachs.
However, when the forum took place on April 10-11, Medvedev was conspicuously absent. Instead, Andrey Belousov, the new favorite of the Russian dictator who was then appointed as the new Minister of Defense in May, took the stage. This change underscores a significant shift in the Kremlin’s power dynamics. The reassignment of Shoigu to the position of Secretary of the Security Council suggests that this body is becoming a sinecure or, as it were, a “harem of Putin’s former favorites.”
Medvedev’s aides prepare questions for his meetings and draft potential answers in advance to ensure the “Nuclear Teddy” stays on track. For example, here is a draft of the questions and answers prepared for one of his meetings with Skolkovo residents, along with a list of participants:
- Medvedev, Q&A [DOCX, Rus]
- List of startups to meet with Medvedev [DOCX, Rus]
- Copy of Startup List [XLSX, Rus]
- Script Meeting with startups_Medvedev [DOCX, Rus]
It is even more entertaining to read the scripts for other events involving Medvedev. One script details an event where a house in Leningrad Oblast is connected to the gas grid.
The script prescribes that before the house is connected, Vyacheslav Buzin, the CEO of Gazprom in Leningrad Oblast, must give a triumphant report:
“Dear Dmitry Anatolyevich (Medvedev) and Alexander Valentinovich (Novak), allow us to connect the Kalinkin family’s house to the gas distribution grid!”
The script specifies that Medvedev must respond with a crucial line: “Permission granted!” This is to ensure he doesn’t go off-script and say something embarrassing, like the famous “There’s no money, but you hang in there.”
- Script. Gatchinsky District 12/23/22 [DOCX, Rus]
Ironically, just six months prior, Medvedev had threatened that Europe would freeze without Russian gas. Contrary to his threats, Europe did not freeze. Instead, Medvedev found himself listening to a resident of the newly connected home in Russia’s second most significant region going on about the physical and financial hardships of heating her home with firewood and coal.
Zaklyazminsky’s email also contained drafts of articles prepared for Medvedev. One such article, published at the end of 2022 (the year when Russia’s full-scale invasion began), showed notable revisions when compared to the initial draft with comments and the final version published in the Rossiyskaya Gazeta and on the United Russia party’s website.
For instance, the reviewer suggested changing the phrase “difficult year” to “dramatic year” and “vital necessity” to “critical necessity,” among other edits.
Rosatom, Higher School of Economics and nuclear weapons in the Arctic
Zaklyazminsky’s e-mail data array clearly shows that Medvedev is also involved in the process of switching the Russian economy to a war footing.
- Among the documents that we can disclose, there are complaints received by Medvedev’s office from the management of the Tula Cartridge Works whose sales of ammunition have slumped due to sanctions (the plant exported 85% of its output, in particular to the USA), and therefore they are appealing to the Russian state authorities to purchase more ammunition.
- There are also recommendations for subsidizing JSC Kronshtadt, which is expanding and establishing serial production of drones in the city of Dubna, Moscow Oblast. The proposal is to fund the interest on mortgage loans for the housing of 800 new plant employees joining its workforce.
- There are also Medvedev’s proposals to Putin for the development of new armor steel types by Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works.
However, more interesting documentation is devoted to Medvedev’s visits to Russian nuclear power plants, as well as his oversight of the Rosatom project to develop a security system for the critical information infrastructure.
Some of these presentations will be of interest to specialists, find them under the following links:
- LAE Report – DAM 28822023 [PPTX, Rus]
- KREA-1 layout concept [PPTX, Rus]
- NPO_KIS_concept_exposure_corr_26_07 [PPTX, Rus]
- 2_5384542353727957490 [PDF, Rus]
- 2_5418376705926505117 [DOCX, Rus]
Zaklyazminsky also regularly receives a selection of research, analytics and conclusions from the Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge at the Higher School of Economics.
Apparently, Medvedev’s office has an established cooperation pipeline with the Higher School of Economics (HSE), whereas their experts probably have a significant influence on the policymaking of the Russian Security Council.
The HSE pays particular attention to the Arctic in its research for the Russian Security Council. For example, in 2021, the HSE prepared a comprehensive report on the Russian policy in this region. And, here is an interesting recent update prepared by the HSE for the meeting on the Arctic, retrieved from Zaklyazminsky’s mail:
- FOR ARCTIC MEETING 01/15/2024 [PDF, Rus]
In this paper, HSE specialists openly suggest that the Russian Federation, as a matter of state policy, should look for ways to:
- “significantly increase the maritime state territory of the Russian Federation in the Arctic… by reviewing the system of baselines for the measurement of maritime zones of the Russian Federation in the Arctic”;
- revise the system of “straight baselines along the Arctic coast of the Russian Federation” with the aim of “reclassifying additional water areas of the Arctic seas as the historical waters of the Russian Federation.”
But the most surprising thing to see was the last proposal – “Develop a legal basis for the deployment of special ammunitions and their carriers in the Arctic region to exercise military control over the state territory of the Russian Federation in the Arctic, as well as over adjacent territories of unfriendly states.”
The first two proposals fit well into the general aggressive policy of the Russian Federation. Let us recall that quite recently, in May 2024, Russia made an abortive attempt to change its maritime borders in the Baltic. It looks the Russian intend to assert their interests in the Arctic in a similar way. The suggested plan is to amend their own legislation, waive the international law as “unfair”, and then redraw coastal reference points for straight baselines, and at the same time reclassify some territories and waters as “historically Russian.”
The deployment of nuclear weapons in the Arctic region has dubious strategic value, as Russia already has sufficient delivery capabilities there – from the air component to submarines that can navigate in northern waters. But there is a catch.
In May 2024, when InformNapalm community was sifting through the mailbox of Medvedev’s aide, the British Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) released an analytical report on threats in the region titled The Face-off in a Fragmented Arctic: Who Will Blink First?
This analysis identifies reasons for increased uncertainty in the region, including the following:
- “There is now de facto ‘more NATO’ in the Arctic” due to the accession of Finland and Sweden to the Alliance.
- “seven of the eight member states (Canada, Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Norway, Sweden and the US) jointly ‘paused’ their involvement in the Arctic Council and its affiliated bodies” due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
- “Since 2022, Russia has restricted access to scientific data that is crucial to monitoring climate change, and especially to assessing the potential impact of carbon dioxide and methane ‘bombs’ being released by Russia’s melting permafrost as part of a feedback loop.“
- “Signs of increasing collaboration in the Arctic between Russia and other members of the so-called BRICS+ (Brazil, India, China, South Africa, Iran, Saudia Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Ethiopia) have prompted further concern that Moscow may be preparing to pursue the commercial exploitation of the Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation (AZRF) independently of the Arctic 7. “
British analysts conclude: “In this context – and judging by the sense of conventional vulnerability fuelling Russia’s Arctic insecurities – there is a risk that Moscow could engage in more overt nuclear sabre-rattling and escalatory behaviour. There remains an outside chance that Russia could resume nuclear weapons testing on the islands of Novaya Zemlya. This situation is compounded by the inherent risk of miscalculation provoked by accidents, incidents and tactical errors, left unchecked by the current absence of lines of communication.“
This conclusion to a certain extent echoes our findings in the mail of Medvedev’s assistant and explains why Russia is looking to deploy the weapons of mass destruction in the Arctic.
This once again demonstrates the degree to which the Russian Federation has transformed into a schizofascist state where politicians are stuck so deep in their paradigm of nuclear saber rattling that they start to receive proposals from their aides in the same vein.
However, the “Nuclear Teddy” who plays the role of Putin’s personal jester and constantly publicly threatens Ukraine and Western countries with Russian nuclear weapons shares a customary trait of the entire Russian political elite – they all back down when faced with the determination, unity and solidarity of the democratic world.
This is only a small part of the MedvedevLeaks data array giving a glimpse on how data leaks from Dmitry Medvedev’s immediate circle. Perhaps over time we will be able to disclose other interesting information from the mailboxes of the “Nuclear Teddy’s” personal aides.
Subscribe to the social media pages of InformNapalm community and the Cyber Resistance hacktivist group, and stay tuned for updates.
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