Medvedev is latest Russian official accused of corruption

RUSSIAN anti-corruption campaigner and opposition leader Alexei Navalny, has accused the country’s prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, of amassing a property portfolio worth millions of pounds via questionable deals.

Mr Medvedev, who served as Russian president between 2008 and 2012, uses a network of charities run by close associates to hide his control of assets including mansions, yachts, and even a vineyard, Mr Navalny has claimed.

The allegations are part of a report released yesterday by the Anti Corruption Foundation, a group, led by Mr Navalny, that investigates high-level graft. It claimed publicly available documents show a large part of the wealth came from “donations” by some of Russia’s richest oligarchs to the charities.

Mr Medvedev’s spokeswoman declined to comment, but told Russia’s Ekho of Moscow radio station that the claims appeared to have an “election campaign character”.

Mr Navalny intends to run for the presidency in 2018. Last month, he was found guilty of embezzlement, in a case that supporters say was designed to prevent Mr Navalny from standing.

The Kremlin did not immediately comment on the claims.

Mr Navalny has made a series of allegations against high-ranking ministers. Last year, he claimed Igor Shuvalov, a deputy prime minister, spent more than £7 million on 10 flats on one floor of a famed Moscow skyscraper.

In 2015, the Anti Corruption Foundation published a report accusing Yuri Chaika, Russia’s chief prosecutor, of amassing wealth through dubious deals.

The revelations have led to speculation that Mr Navalny is being fed information by high-ranking politicians seeking to smear rivals in internal Kremlin power struggles.