Son of Dmitry Medvedev confirms family’s link to winery spotlighted in Navalny corruption exposé — by joining its board of directors

RU

Ilya Medvedev, the son of former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, has officially joined the board of directors of the “Skalisty Bereg” winery. This development establishes a direct link between Medvedev and the company, which was featured in Alexei Navalny’s 2017 investigative film Don’t Call Him “Dimon.” At that time, Dmitry Medvedev characterized Navalny’s evidence as “nonsense and bits of paper” and dismissed the investigation as “compote” — suggesting that the Anti-Corruption Foundation’s (ACF) accusations about the former president’s inexplicable wealth were not founded on facts. The film, which documented Medvedev’s efforts to conceal the existence of his luxury assets, nevertheless sparked nationwide protests. Now, years later, Medvedev's son has effectively confirmed the investigation's findings — both publicly and in official records. As The Insider can confirm, Ilya Medvedev’s name is has been listed among the five board members of JSC “Skalisty Bereg” (АО «Скалистый Берег»).

On March 31, the Moscow Planetarium hosted a high-profile promotional event, gathering 200 sommeliers from top-tier Moscow restaurants beneath its starry dome. The venue was fully branded in Skalisty Bereg’s style, with dedicated tasting areas where guests sampled wines produced by the selfsame company that has long been speculated to be linked to Russia’s only living ex-president.

Financial records from the winery — whose name is loosely translated as “Rocky Shore” — not only confirm the connection to the family of the current deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, but also reveal that the winery was never intended as a profit-generating business. Instead, it was established as a personal hobby. In 2024 alone, Skalisty Bereg posted losses of 378 million rubles (roughly $4.1 million). Since its inception, the winery, which is located a relatively short drive from the site of Putin’s infamous $1 billion palace near Gelendzhik, has accumulated a total loss of 1.453 billion rubles (over $16.5 million).

The primary source of these losses is something that normally generates income for wineries: the sale of wine. In 2024, the company earned 178 million rubles in revenue, while its cost of sales was 343 million rubles. A similar pattern occurred in 2023, when the winery earned 61 million rubles but spent 123 million rubles on operations. According to the firm’s financial reports, Skalisty Bereg sells its wines at roughly half the cost of production — this despite retail prices reaching up to 3,990 rubles (over $40) per bottle.

Winemaking has become a hallmark pastime among the Putin-era Russian elite, rivaling their well-known tastes for luxury yachts and high-end watches. Beyond personal indulgence, these hobbies often serve to reinforce informal ties within the country’s kleptocracy. One example is the lavish gravity-flow winery complex in the southern Russian seaside town of Anapa, which not only produces wines linked to Dmitry Medvedev but is also used by Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov. Although Manturov owns vineyards in the Krasnodar Region, the construction of his own winery remains unfinished. Until recently, his grapes were processed at the Lefkadia winery; however, since 2023, production has moved to Skalisty Bereg.

The lavish event at the Moscow Planetarium was also devoted to a new partnership between the winery and its distributor, Simple, which operates a nationwide chain of wine boutiques under the same name. Simple’s portfolio features over 100 wine producers, including seven with close connections to members of the Putin-era elite:

• Usadba Mezyb (lit. “Mezyb Estate”; associated with Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church)
• Shumrinka (linked to Lanfranco Cirillo, the architect of Putin’s aforementioned palace)
• Alma Valley (owned by VTB Bank chairman Andrey Kostin)
• Mantra (owned by Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov)
• Zolotaya Balka (associated with Artem Zuev, a corporate raider and banker listed under the Magnitsky sanctions)
• Valery Zakharyin (a brand owned by nominal proxy Valery Zakharyin, linked to financier Yury Kovalchuk, a close friend of Vladimier Putin)
• Riecine (owned by Gleb Frank, son-in-law of oligarch Gennady Timchenko, another close friend of Vladimir Putin)

Medvedev’s winery is now the eighth addition to this elite-linked list. Thanks to Simple, wines from Skalisty Bereg will be available not only across Russia but also in Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine. As previously reported by The Insider, one of Simple Group’s partners is the Spirits Tobacco Market network, whose alcohol boutiques operate in Russian-occupied Ukrainian cities such as Berdyansk, Donetsk, Yenakiieve, Makiivka, Mariupol, Shakhtarsk, and Khartsyzk.

In August 2011, then-president Dmitry Medvedev held a meeting at the Kremlin with Alexander Tkachyov, then-Governor of Krasnodar Krai, during which Putin’s temporary seat-holder praised winemaking as “one of the industries that helps eradicate alcoholism,” attributing the country’s widespread alcohol-related health issues to the consumption of stronger spirits. As The Insider observed in 2024, several of Medvedev’s most controversial Telegram posts appeared to coincide with deliveries from his Italian winery — a luxury asset that was also exposed in Navalny’s 2017 investigation.