Private jet of Russia’s ex-President Medvedev was in Qatar the day of FIFA World Cup semifinal. He posted about the tournament on previous day

A private plane of former Russian President and current Deputy Chair of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev landed in Doha on 14 December, the same day the second semifinal of the FIFA World Cup was played, Flightradar24 data shows.

According to the website, RusJet’s Bombardier Global Express 5000 (registration number RA-67226) on 14 December flew from Moscow to Doha and then headed to Dubai before returning to Moscow on 15 December. According to Airport-Data, the plane is registered to Medvedev’s ex-wife, Svetlana Medvedeva. Dmitry Medvedev himself did not mention if he was at the match.

In 2019, Alexey Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation published an investigation about this plane. According to it, the business jet valued at about $50 million was initially owned by a VTB Leasing subsidiary, and then was sold to an offshore entity in Belize, while in reality it was used by Svetlana Medvedeva.

On 10 December, Medvedev shared his football preferences online. “It would be cool to have the final without hostile countries. Argentina — Morocco.” However, France defeated Morocco 2-0 in the semifinals when Medvedev’s plane was in the Qatari capital.