Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev was born on Septemebr 14, 1965 and is currently the third President of the Russian Federation. He was inaugurated on May 7, 2008 from the election he won on March 2, 2008 with 71.25% of the popular vote ("Dmitry Medvedev," 2011).

Anatoly Afanasevich Medvedev (November 1926 — 2004), Medvedev's father, was a Professor at the Leningrad Institute of Technology. His mother is Yulia Veniaminovna Medvedeva (born Shaposhnikova, born November 21, 1939). His mother was brought up in the Kupchino district of Leningrad and her parents were Ukrainians whose surname was Kovalev, originally Koval. Medvedev traces the genealogy of the name to the Belgorod region ("Dmitry Medvedev," 2011).

In secondary school, Medvedev was an A student and was a member of Komsomol from 1979 until 1991. Svetlana Linnik, who was his classmate during those years, would become his future wife. During his studies at University he joined the Communist Party. For extra-curricular activities outside of school, Medvedev was fond of sports, particularly, weightlifting. He was also a fan of the English rock bands Black Sabbath and Deep Purple ("Dmitry Medvedev," 2011).

Dmitry Medvedev graduated from the Law Department of Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) State University in 1987 (together with Ilya Yeliseyev, Anton Ivanov, Nikolay Vinnichenko and Konstantin Chuychenko) and in 1990, received his Candidate of Sciences degree in private law from the graduate school at Leningrad State University. Anatoly Sobchak, a democratic politician of the 80s and 90s, was one of Medvedev's professors. Medvedev joined Sobchak's team of democrats in 1988 and served as the de facto head of Sobchak's successful campaign for a seat in the new Soviet parliament - the Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR ("Dmitry Medvedev," 2011).

Between 1991 and 1999, Medvedev in addition to his business activities and employment in the administration of the City of Saint Petersburg, held a position of docent at his alma mater university. Medvedev was appointed First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian government on November 14, 2005. Formerly Vladimir Putin's Chief of Presidential Staff, he was also the Chairman of Gazprom's board of directors. Medvedev's candidacy was backed by then President Vladimir Putin ("Dmitry Medvedev," 2011).

On December 10, 2007, Medvedev was informally endorsed as a candidate for the upcoming presidential elections by the largest Russian political party, United Russia and several pro-presidential parties, and was officially endorsed by United Russia one week later on December 17, 2007. A technocrat and political appointee, Medvedev had never held elective office before 2008. As President, Medvedev has made economic modernisation one of his top agendas ("Dmitry Medvedev," 2011).

References:

Dmitry Medvedev. (2011, February 19). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 00:46, February 23, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dmitry_Medvedev&oldid=414716736