“Foreign agent” declared the author of “20 ideas for Russia”, whose identity was established by the BBC
- Andrey Zakharov & Sergey Goryashko
- BBC
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A person appeared in the register of “foreign agents” of the Russian Ministry of Justice, about whom many thought that he did not exist. This is the enigmatic author of “20 Ideas for the Development of Russia” Dmitry Davydov, who in 2021 flooded the Russian media and blogs with advertising of his proposals for reforming the country. Most likely, the same Davydov from Kazakhstan, whom the BBC pointed out in its investigation, got into the register.
On Friday, December 16, “foreign agents” were representatives of journalists (Wonderzine editor-in-chief Yulia Taratuta), politicians (municipal deputy from St. Petersburg Natalya Gryaznevich) and LGBT rights fighters (this time – the Samara organization “Irida”).
Among them were Dmitry Viktorovich Davydov. In the register, unlike other foreign agents, only the date of his birth is indicated, but the TIN, for example, is not. This is the name of the mysterious author of “20 Ideas for the Development of Russia”, articles that were published in the media in question with suspicion for 2021 and until recently. Despite large-scale advertising purchases, it has not yet been reliably known who he is. The Ministry of Justice, by its foundation, essentially suggested who was behind the project.
What is the project “20 ideas for the development of Russia” about
The project “20 Ideas” collected proposals for cosmetic reforms in Russia. At first glance, these are limited liberal changes that cover only cases and bypass exits. For example, “Dmitry Davydov” believes that Sochi could well happen in the world center of tourism and gambling, which will help him get out of Las Vegas. To do this, he – or his team – consumes extensive tax breaks and visa-free travel to Sochi. And for future players in Sochi casinos, loans must be issued so that they can play the game.
They meet with exceptional, in general, trivial ideas, and the most unexpected ones. For example, Russian agriculture, believes “Dmitry Davydov”, promotes the development of ostrich farms and the cultivation of tropical crops. For negotiations with traffic jams in Moscow, he proposes to introduce a paid entry into the capital. True, he did not decide on a change in the tariff – in one “idea” it is 1000 rubles per day, in another, which appeared a little later, it is already only 100 rubles (within the Moscow Ring Road).
Finally, “Dmitry Davydov” seriously proposes to massively chip – this is the word used on the site – all Russians. “[Им] Implement the injection of an organic weighing chip or reveal a marking that gives a permanent alarm, found in the only top secret data structure with different levels of access” – about the emergence of technology on the site “20 ideas”.
Thanks to this chip, according to the idea of ”Dmitry Davydov”, the mucous membranes of the organs will open – first of all, they will be checked to see which of the chipped ones appeared, for example, at the place of theft. In the circles of suspicion, people fall and flow who had contact with the chip carrier before or after the crime was committed.
Law-abiding citizens in the ideal Russia of “Dmitry Davydov” will be asked to implant this chip voluntarily – for example, in their child or elderly parent in case he gets lost.
There are actually more than twenty ideas. In 2022, “Dmitry Davydov” began to send out his proposals to the authorities, and in the lungs they were also transferred to President Vladimir Putin with a proposal to consider them.
“Moved by a dispassionate desire to make the life of Russians better, I am sure that with due attention from the state, my proposals met Russia to even greater prosperity,” he ends his appeal, which was published, for example, by Rossiyskaya Gazeta.
What media advertised “20 ideas”
At the start of the campaign in the summer of 2021, ideas from Dmitry Davydov were advertised by stars with the deployment of accounts on Instagram, like Maxim Galkin (recognized as a “foreign agent”) and Timati. – Vedomosti, Kommersant, Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Forbes, RBC, Interfax, Lenta, Arguments and Facts.
As of the beginning of 2022, 500 publications were published in 50 publications, and about 1 billion rubles were already spent on the advertising share, it was then calculated for the BBC Russian Service by the general director of the LAMPA communication agency, Yevgeny Lampadov.
After the start of the war with Ukraine, “Dmitry Davydov” continued to put forward new ideas (for example, employment of teenagers from the age of 13), and the Russian media resumed advertising them. For example, in the state-owned Rossiyskaya Gazeta, the last advertising publication was published on September 5 (an open appeal to Putin), in RBC on December 16, in Kommersant on December 15, and in Forbes on December 13. In addition, bloggers began to take care of the project again – posts about Davydov, recently published by Philip Kirkorov and TV presenter Ksenia Borodina.
In the fall of 2021, the BBC published a study on “20 Ideas for Russia’s Development”. Interlocutors in the Russian media then said that advertising is placed through a chain of intermediaries. And in the PR market we are talking about the implementation of the project without the Kremlin’s acceptance of the impossibility – after all, advertising, among other things, is published in the official Rossiyskaya Gazeta.
“There were no special reports on our line.
At the same time, the media staff unanimously opposed Davydov himself.
What was known about Dmitry Davydov
About Dmitry Davydov is known only from his autobiography on the site “20 ideas”.
It says that according to the record, Davydov is a lawyer, and is currently engaged in business. But at the same time, he not only does not live in Russia – he does not even have Russian citizenship.
His great-grandfather and other relatives gave it away while fighting in the Great Patriotic War, “- this is how the interest of a foreign citizen Dmitry Davydov in the development of Russia was explained.
The authors of the project, who were as safe as possible, also approached the same thing in order to hide digital traces. The official owner of the site is Dmitry Viktorovich Davydov, the only contact – mail on Mail.ru – is registered to a German phone number.
Compare various data, the BBC, in its investigation a year ago, suggested that Dmitry Davydov, an entrepreneur from Kazakhstan, could become behind the project.
Kazakhstani Davydov was the owner of the Olimp betting company, which brought to problems with a high load on 70% of the equipment market in Kazakhstan. In 2020, the local prosecutor’s office immediately brought forward several charges of liability of the company’s executives and managers in connection with the identification of the gambling business and tax evasion. In total, according to the respected authorities of Kazakhstan, the owners of Olimp did not pay extra 95 billion tenge or about 16 billion rubles to the budget. Since then, Davydov has been on the wanted list, his whereabouts are unknown.
It was Dmitry Davydov from Kazakhstan, judging by his date of birth, who became another foreign agent in Russia.
Will the media now advertise the project?
Kommersant told the BBC that Dmitry Davydov himself had never been seen. The customer for advertising “20 Ideas” in the publication of a public advertising agency and reasons, according to the substances, Davydov was recognized as a “foreign agent”, unknown.
The publication of materials by a “foreign agent” creates risks for Kommersant, as well as for other media outlets. According to the law on “foreign influence,” the media themselves can get into the register of “foreign agents.” Old materials for Davydov’s publication should now be accompanied by a message in a font stating that these materials have a “foreign agent”. When asked by the BBC whether Kommersant had received this advertisement and what would be the sum of Davydov’s materials, the source replied that this was still being discussed with the archive of the publishing house, and a decision had not yet been made.
“For now, we will put a note as required by law. We will decide what to do with advertising on Monday,” Dmitry Ozman, development director of Forbes, commented to the BBC on the inclusion of Dmitry Davydov in the register of “foreign agents”.
Throughout 2022, the banner “20 ideas” hung on the main page of many Russian media. After Dmitry Davydov entered them, they disappeared from the pages of Kommersant and Interfax, but, as of 23:00 Moscow time, they are on the RBC and Forbes websites.
If an advertising contract with 20 Ideas advertisers is Dmitry Davydov’s own possibility, it will have to be accompanied on any site with a disclaimer stating that the message was created by a “foreign agent,” the Markov managing legal partner told the BBC. and Madaminov” Sergei Markov.
In addition, information from “foreign agents” in Russia is now prohibited for children, so advertisers must comply with strict requirements in new advertising publications. In my opinion, these are the only true legal consequences of including Davydov in the register.
However, there is an opportunity to avoid this, Markov believes – “if it is written in the contracts with the site that the author of the material is not Davydov, but anyone else.” In exceptional cases, the indication of the status of “foreign agent” will be only in the media, in connection with the mention of this only when mentioning the name of Davydov. All other sites do not legally do it and slow it down, lawyer.
Davydov is not.
The BBC turned to Dmitry Davydov for comment. To do this, there is mail on Mail.ru, with which none of the journalists has ever used.
The Russian authorities identify Andrei Zakharov in the register of media outlets acting as a foreign agent. The BBC strongly objects to his decision and has argued in court.