Is it true that Dmitry Medvedev’s son’s American visa was revoked and he was ordered to leave the United States within 48 hours?

At the beginning of June 2022, Russian and foreign sources spread news about the actions of the American authorities against Ilya Medvedev, the son of the ex-president of the Russian Federation. We checked whether there is a serious basis for this news.

The information message did not contain any details and consisted of two facts: Ilya, the son of Dmitry Medvedev, had his US visa revoked and he must leave the States within two days.

The news was also reported by popular Telegram channels ATF And Nexta Live, as well as media representing Ukraine "Channel Five", "Judicial-legal newspaper", "Reviewer" And "Ukrainian national news". In one of his broadcasts, a Russian opposition politician touched on this story Nikolay Bondarenko. The news was also discussed on Radio Liberty.

Many media outlets noted that the information in question has not been confirmed. At the same time, some referred to the Nexta Live channel as the source of the news. However, it is easy to notice that this resource was not the first to post this message. So, post on Nexta appeared at 07:15 UTC (10:15 Moscow time) on June 5, while on the channel ATF the news was published on June 4 at 16:10 UTC. In the latter case, two features are noteworthy: the message begins with the words “Good news from Silicon Valley,” and then it is specified that Ilya Medvedev should leave California (and not the USA). The same details are present in messages that appeared even earlier on Twitter - in 11:15 (391 retweets) and in 12:17 the same day. From this we can conclude that the news began its circulation on this social network. Indeed, the earliest post of similar content we found appeared in 10:17 morning on Twitter of Ukrainian entrepreneur and investor Denis Dovgopoly. It looked like this:

As you can see, this is not only the oldest news post, it also collected a large number of retweets. And the next day Dovgopoly did the following on his social media accounts: statement:

So, Denis Dovgopoly calls himself the primary source of the news, and emphasizes that the news is unverified. Let's look at the arguments he makes, adding a few of our own to them.

• Indeed, not a single more or less authoritative world media outlet, as of the morning of June 8, had confirmed this news. If such high-profile information were true, at least American news agencies would instantly spread it. Here we see that the distributor was a private Ukrainian source.
• About four days have passed since the news appeared. Ilya Medvedev, if you believe her, should have already left the United States. However, there is no confirmed or even unconfirmed information about this from major media outlets yet.
• Very little is known about the son of the third president of the Russian Federation. Was born he August 3, 1995. In the summer of 2012 the media reportedthat Ilya entered the international law faculty of MGIMO. Four years later, Moskovsky Komsomolets correspondent caught Medvedev Jr. after the exam and interviewed him, from which it turned out that the young man was going to enroll in a master’s program and work in Russia. In 2020 Dmitry Medvedev toldthat his son is engaged in private business projects, including in the field of the digital economy. Authoritative sources do not report his residence in the United States, much less his American citizenship. But even if we assume the former, it is unlikely that the son of one of the most influential and toughest politicians in the Russian Federation as of June 2022 was still in the United States. At least for security reasons.
• In February 2022, Medvedev Sr. statedthat neither he nor his family members had and do not have foreign accounts or any property abroad.
• Some cite the recent publication in Dmitry Medvedev’s Telegram channel, in which he criticized the West for sanctions against family members of Russian officials. However, it is important to note that this publication appeared two and a half hours before Dovgopoly’s tweet, that is, there is no evidence that Medvedev reacted to the news in this way, and that the news “grew” from Medvedev’s post.
• Until now, the American authorities have announced sanctions against the children of Russian officials and businessmen openly and by name. And in end of February, and in early March, and in early April. Ilya Medvedev was not included in any of these lists, unlike his father.

Thus, the information available today does not at all support the veracity of the news about the deportation of Ilya Medvedev. Even its main distributor the next day questioned this fact.

Cover image: gubdaily.ru.

Most likely not true

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