Vladimir Rostislavovich Medinsky (Russian: Владимир Ростиславович Мединский; born July 18, 1970) is a Russian political figure, academic and publicist who served as the Minister of Culture from May 2012 to January 2020.^[1] He has the federal state civilian service rank of 1st class Active State Councillor of the Russian Federation.^[2] He is a member of the General Council of the United Russia party.

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Quick Facts Aide to the President of Russia, President ...

Vladimir Medinsky
Владимир Мединский
Medinsky in 2020
Aide to the President of Russia
Incumbent
Assumed office 24 January 2020
President	Vladimir Putin
Minister of Culture
In office 21 May 2012 – 15 January 2020
Prime Minister	Dmitry Medvedev
Preceded by	Aleksandr Avdeyev
Succeeded by	Olga Lyubimova
Personal details
Born	Vladimir Rostislavovich Medinsky (1970-07-18) July 18, 1970 (age 53) Smila, Cherkasy Oblast, Ukrainian SSR, USSR (Today Ukraine)
Political party	Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Before 1991) Independent (1991–1995) Our Home-Russia (1995–2000) Unity (1999–2001) United Russia (2001–present)
Alma mater	Moscow State Institute of International Relations
Profession	Professor Doctor of Sciences in political and historical studies
Website	http://www.medinskiy.ru/

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Medinsky was born in the city of Smila in the Cherkasy Oblast of the Ukrainian SSR.^[3]

• 1997 – defended Doctoral dissertation in political science
• 1999 – defended Higher Doctoral dissertation in political science^[8]
• June 2011 – defended Higher Doctoral dissertation in history in the Russian State Social University: "Problems of objectivity in the coverage of Russian history from the second half of the 15th to 17th centuries".

The third thesis of 2011 has been widely debated in the Russian media and a large number of fragments have been shown to bear a significant resemblance to existing academic works, which caused numerous accusations of plagiarism.^[9][10]

On 23 May 2014, the Dissernet community, an informal group of academics and journalists concerned with dissertation plagiarism, declared to have found plagiarism in two previous dissertations by Medinsky, of 1997^[11] and 1999.^[12] According to Dissernet's expertise, in the first thesis 87 pages out of 120 have been borrowed from the thesis of Medinsky's scientific advisor S. A. Proskurin. In the second thesis, 21 pages textually coincide with other people's works.^[8][13]

On 3 October 2017 the top Russian academic council recommended revoking Medinsky's 2011 doctorate.^[14] However, on 20 October 2017 a committee of a government agency that oversees the awarding of higher academic degrees ruled in the minister's favour by 16 to 6.^[15]

Vladimir Medinsky has been described as a "nationalist enamoured of classicism and traditional values".^[16]

Medinsky supports the removal of Vladimir Lenin's body from Lenin's Mausoleum to bury it.^[17][18]

Medinsky believes that statues of Joseph Stalin should be erected in places where the majority of local people are in favour.^[19]

In 2013, Medinsky's Culture Ministry proposed an updated cultural policy blueprint. Calling for "a rejection of the principles of tolerance and multiculturalism", it emphasizes Russian "traditional values" and cautions against "pseudo-art" that may be at variance with those values.^[20]

In 2015, Medinsky called for the creation of a Russian "patriotic Internet" to combat Western ideas, adding that those who are against Russia are against the truth.^[21]

In 2019, Medinsky called the Chernobyl series “masterfully made” and “filmed with great respect for ordinary people”.^[22] Medinsky's father was one of the Chernobyl liquidators.^[23]

During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Medinsky stated that “We stand for peace”.^[24]

• 2015: Commander in the Order of Cultural Merit.^[25]

• The Wall (Стена), 2012, ISBN 978-5-373-04522-3
• Myths about Russia (Мифы о России), Series of books by Vladimir Medinskiy
• Legal basis for commercial advertising by Vladimir Medinskiy and Kirill Vsevolozhskiy, ISBN 5-901084-01-2
• Scoundrels and geniuses PR. From Rurik to Ivan the Terrible by V. Medinskiy, 2011, ISBN 978-5-388-00487-1