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Daria Sukharchuk is a journalist based in Berlin, where she works as a news anchor for Russian-language OstWest.tv. Her writing has appeared in Motherboard and ZEIT Online, Cosmopolitan, as well as Afisha (Moscow's leading city magazine). She specializes on the topic of human rights, migration, and mental health.
She has her BA in Chinese history, and, never having forgotten her history background, has also contributed to the educational project1917.com.
The Anti-Corruption Foundation, headed by Alexey Navalny, has published its second big investigation. The first one, about a "hidden empire" belonging to the attorney general, ran in 2015. This time, the anti-corruption activists focus on an intricate network of fake "charity foundations". These foundations own luxury property worth millions of dollars.
Officially, Mr Medvedev does not own anything as all the "charities" are owned by his close, and rather obscure, friends. But that connection was revealed in 2014 when a group of hackers, Anonymous International, published the contents of PM's iPhone, including his personal emails.
In it, the investigators found evidence of his extensive online shopping: in three months, Medvedev bought 73 shirts, 20 pairs of trainers and 30 swimming trunks. Many of those items can be seen in his Instagram pictures. But none of them were delivered to his residence: they were made in the name of Mr Dyachenko, who manages many of the PM's secret assets.
It is a rare example of a very thorough journalistic investigation done in Russia, paid entirely through crowdfunding. The Russian website dedicated to the investigation allows the reader to see all the documents it used. The documentary (English subtitles available) offers a more light-hearted and visual take on the story, complete with drone footage of the secret properties and a map of Medvedev's secret network.
This was the investigative reporting mentioned in Rachel Maddow's show Friday. She made a strong case for the bravery of the people investigating and I'm glad to see the original being featured.