20 ideas

BBC journalist delves into heavily advertised development plan for Russia authored by a mystery man

For several months, popular bloggers and major media outlets, including state-owned publications, have been talking about a plan titled “20 Ideas for the Development of Russia.” The program is authored by a certain “Dmitry Davydov” — but it's unclear who this person actually is. Indeed, some doubt he even exists. In a new investigation, BBC News Russian journalist Andrey Zakharov tries to figure out who’s behind the program and how they managed to pay for what appears to be a massive advertising campaign. Meduza summarizes his findings here.

The program “20 Ideas for the Development of Russia” has its own website: 20idei.ru. For the most part, it consists of economic proposals. Thus, the plan suggests that with the help of tax incentives and a visa-free regime, Sochi could compete with Las Vegas, and Moscow could become a “world financial center.” But it also includes more radical ideas — such as developing Russian agriculture through ostrich farms and charging a toll to enter Moscow, in order to reduce traffic jams. Its author, the mysterious “Dmitry Davydov,” also suggests microchipping convicted felons en masse, in order to lower the crime rate.

Very famous Russians began promoting Dmitry Davydov’s program on their social media accounts back in June. Comedian Maxim Galkin shared an Instagram post about Davydov’s “20 Ideas,” as did actress Natalya Rudova, singer Nikolai Baskov, and television hosts Dmitry Guberniev, Ksenia Borodina, and Alena Vodonaeva. Major news outlets like Vedomosti, Kommersant, Lenta.ru, Forbes Russia, and the government newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta (among others) published stories about the program.

The Russian BBC counted more than 180 advertisements about the “20 Ideas” program in federal news outlets covering politics and business, and estimated the total cost of the campaign at around 500 million rubles (more than $7.16 million). According to the counter on 20idei.ru, which cites Yandex Metrics, more than 24.7 million people have visited the program’s website.

So who is behind the “20 Ideas” platform? This remains unclear. The advertising was paid for through a complex chain of intermediaries, making the original source of the money impossible to trace, writes the Russian BBC.

Most of the political analysts interviewed by the BBC expressed confidence that a campaign of this magnitude wouldn’t have been possible without some kind of support from the authorities. That said, why this campaign is necessary also isn’t entirely clear. One source suggested that “20 Ideas” is a “spoiler project, ready to go off at a certain moment.” In turn, a political strategist surmised that the project may belong to a businessman close to the government, who wants to occupy the niche of a “reformer from the authorities.”

Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the Kremlin is aware of the program, but doesn’t know who’s behind it. A source in Putin’s Executive Office also told the Russian BBC that the Kremlin has nothing to do with the campaign. “As far as I understand, some bandit with money wants to return to Russia. [This] person obviously has money. He’s ordering advertising from everyone,” the source asserted.

Having studied the links on the program’s website and the biographies of the people who publicly associated themselves with the platform, the Russian BBC found indirect evidence pointing to 40-year-old Dmitry Viktorovich Davydov — the co-owner of the Olimpbet, a gambling company which once controlled 70 percent of sports betting in Kazakhstan.

Davydov is facing criminal charges in Kazakhstan and is presumed to be hiding in Europe. The Russian BBC was unable to reach Davydov for comment.

A source in the state PR industry told BBC Russian that “20 ideas for Russia” is expected to launch a second part to its campaign. “I thought this might happen before the [State] Duma elections. But no,” the source said. The BBC notes that the project’s website is updated regularly — for example, section 20 is not yet completed and is supposed to be fleshed out in 2022.

One federal news outlet told the BBC that “Davydov” recently extended his advertising contract with them until December, and allegedly plans to publish 20 more ideas.