Police raid director Kirill Serebrennikov

Police today (May 23, 2017) are raiding the home and workplace of Kirill Serebrennikov, the artistic director of the Gogol Center. What follows is a compendium of sources and quotes drawn from the internet and social media in the course of the day.

UPDATE 2, May 24, 2017

Moscow. 24 May. INTERFAX.RU - General Director of the Bolshoi Theater Vladimir Urin sent a letter to President Vladimir Putin in regards to the situation surrounding Kirill Serebrennikov, the artistic director of Gogol Center.

"I think what happened to the director (Serebrennikov) is wrong, he is an artist, a person who does not answer, from my point of view, and as I know, is not responsible for financial components," Urin said. Wednesday to journalists in Moscow.

"The media, who acted without having enough accurate information, played their part," the head of the Bolshoi Theater said.

Urin expressed the hope that the investigation of the situation around Gogol Center will remain extremely objective, within the framework of the law, and with the utmost respect for a person with an international reputation, with an understanding of the situation."

Asked by Interfax why he blames the media for covering the situation with Gogol Center, the general director of the theater stressed that "everyone is interested in a name, people do not understand the situation, but they hear the name, and as a result, it seems that the main culprit of this financial 'squabble' is Kirill Serebrennikov."

"This is an incorrect position. We are dealing with very important material; this material is an artist," Urin noted.

Last evening Serebrennikov's apartment was searched in connection with a case of embezzlement of funds in the theater that he leads. Later the director was summoned for interrogation in the Investigative Committee of Russia. Searches in regards to this case took place at Gogol Center itself, and Sofia Apfelbaum, the director of the National Youth Theater, was also searched and interrogated. Currently, Serebrennikov is considered a witness in this case.

UPDATE 1, May 24, 2017

It is now relatively clear that the investigation, for which Kirill Serebrennikov was interrogated yesterday - and still remains a witness - was caused by a case involving embezzlement at the Mosow Culture Department in 2015. Serebrennikov is not - at this time - a suspect or person of interest in this case. He was shown on Russian Channel One News the evening of May 23, declaring that the authorities had been very proper and correct with him during the search at his home. This did not s top the theater community from rallying around Serebrennikov noisily and demonstrably. People spoke out all day long, including in a large crowd gathered around the theater, and declared their support for, and belief in, the director. Today (May 24) an article on the RBK news site tells of the interrogation of another individual - Sofia Apfelbaum, now the managing director of the National Youth Theater, but, for a short time in the past, managing director of the Gogol Center. Because I think the RBK piece explains much about the nature of this matter, I include it in its entirety here:

"The director of the National Youth Theater (RAMT) Sofia Apfelbaum commented to RBK about searches that took place yesterday in her apartment. According to her, she figures in the case of [Gogol Center's] Seventh Studio as a witness.

"I was interrogated as a witness, but so far I myself do not understand the circumstances, so I can not comment on them," she said. According to Apfelbaum, since she was one of the signatories for the Seventh Studio with the Ministry of Culture, she was "naturally" asked questions about how this project came about.

According to Apfelbaum, the decision to give grants to the Seventh Studio was made by Russian President Vladimir Putin. "There was a meeting between Serebrennikov and the President in March 2011. The commission for financing this project came to the ministry. We executed it, "she explained....

The searches of Sophia Apfelbaum became known on May, 23rd. Searches began on this day at Gogol Center and at the home of its leader, director Kirill Serebrennikov, who was also taken to the interrogation.

The searches were conducted in the framework of a criminal case involving the theft of more than 200 million rubles ($3.5 million). According to the investigation these funds were stolen by the management of the [Gogol Center's] Seventh Studio, which was created by Serebrennikov. In this embezzlement case, the former leaders of the Seventh Studio were detained: ex-general director Yury Itin, who now heads the Fyodor Volkov Theater in Yaroslavl, as well as former chief accountant Nina Maslyaeva. Http://www.rbc.ru/rbcfreenews/592531909a7947c01be07058

I'll post this final update for May 23 (11:26 p.m.) from the Facebook page of human rights activist Zoya Svetova: "Kirill Serebrennikov was freed by the investigative committee after questioning, with an obligation to appear for interrogation. He has the status of witness. Lawyers say the obligation to appear has no special legal consequences. Although if he is going somewhere, such as on tour, he must report in. In any case, it sounds ominous and, as it were, a hint, for those who understand: the status of witness may be exchanged for the status of suspect or accused. So it seems to me for some reason. I would like to be mistaken."

IMPORTANT UPDATE: 15:29 May 23 2017

Interfax is quoting Kirill Serebrennikov's lawyer Alexei Fedyarov as saying that Serebrennikov is undergoing an extensive search "as a witness," not as a person of interest or as a potential defendant. Interfax points out that it has not confirmed this information with the Russian authorities. This same source quotes an official as saying that the amount embezzled is $35 million. (That's right - dollars.)

http://www.interfax.ru/russia/563474

EARLIER IN THE DAY

Open Russia reports that the FSB is leading the investigation of embezzlement in "particularly large amounts" (over, 1,000,000 rubles ($17,670 appx).

https://openrussia.org/notes/709730/

Writing on Facebook, critic Alyona Solntseva quotes the odious LifeNews (a Kremliln-controlled source that always has the dirt first) on the situation:

"Kirill Serebrennikov is undergoing a search. In the theater and at home. The search is beging conducted by the Investigative Committee 'within the framework of a criminal case.' According to Life, 'a criminal embezzlement case has been opened against the director' (in which case, most likely, it is in regards to theater finances, in which, as everyone knows, there is always something legally loose). Also, the site reports that, all together, searches in regards to embezzlement at Gogol Center are being conducted at 17 addresses.

Everyone is very nervous and worried.

The entrance to Gogol Center is closed. At the entrance there is a car with a flasher and an AMP number. People in face scarves don't answer questions."

Designer Vera Martynova (who designed the Gogol Center interior) writes on Facebook that authorities have confiscated telephones of everyone working at the theater.

Other sources (on private Facebook posts) suggest that this all may be in regards to an embezzlement case that has been ongoing at the Moscow City Culture Department.

Quoting TASS:

"No one has yet been detained, interrogations and other investigative actions are ongoing," a source added, noting that the investigation is connected with the embezzlement of funds. TASS has no official commentary from law enforcement agencies yet. Earlier, the head of the Department of Culture of Moscow, Alexander Kibovsky, reported that Gogol Center's debt to various organizations is about 80 million rubles. In turn, State Duma deputies from various factions, including Just Russia, raised the issue of investigating the financial discipline of the theater's leadership. In particular, LDPR deputy Mikhail Degtyarev announced his intention to send inquiries to the state non-budget fund and the Federal Tax Service in search of payments made by the former leadership of Gogol Center....

"In turn, in a February interview with TASS this year, Serebrennikov spoke of the economic success of Gogol Center in 2016. According to him, the theater exceeded the state attendance goal and the [required] number of events, stressing that 'for each ruble invested by the state, the theater has earned two.' In 2016, the theater fulfilled its obligations on average wages, and for the first time all employees were paid a large bonus at the end of the year, 2-3 times higher than their salary."

Activist Fenix Freeman writes on Facebook that raids are occurring not only at Gogol Center but at RAMT (National Youth Theater) as well. I find no sources backing that up yet. UPDATE ON THIS: Indeed, Sofia Apelbaum, the managing director at RAMT, was questioned today also. As is the case with Serebrennikov, she is, as far as I can tell, NOT a suspect, but considered a witness.

Olga Romanova, the head of Russia Behind Bars, who was the first to report this story this morning, has added information to her Facebook page, that the raids are being conducted "without court warrants." She has confirmed that the immediate reason for the raids (which are going on at many people's homes and places of work) is an embezzlement case from 2015 at the Moscow City Culture Department.

Meduza has put up a compendium of comments by various directors, writers, journalists, etc. Everybody is commenting without any hard facts, so there is no "news" in this post. But if you have Russian you might find some of the comments interesting (Vladimir Mirzoev: "Basically, the authorities are doing everything to ensure that any individual can be caught on a hook. They deliberately create ... distort the economic environment so that no one can feel safe. This is done absolutely deliberately. As such, I can not say anything specifically. But the environment is pathological - it's true.")

https://meduza.io/feature/2017/05/23/vlasti-delayut-vse-chtoby-lyuboy-chelovek-byl-na-kryuchke?utm_source=website&utm_medium=push&utm_campaign=browser_news

Yevgenia Shermenyova, formerly of the Moscow City Culture Department (in the good days), and one of the most astute theater administrators in Moscow, today on Facebook: "On Saturday Kirill Serebrennikov sent me a link - articles from May 10 with a list of "Russophobic directors," in which he also figured. By the end of the week the Russian Artistic Council announced that it had been created to "protect Russian art from destructive tendencies." Somehow everything builds up in one hideous lump. The theater, which for five years has been the brightest spot on the map of Moscow, which earns twice as much as the state spends financing it, and a place where a wide variety of people gather - artists and spectators and performances for a very diverse audience - is now surrounded by people in masks."

Yelena Gremina, late in the afternoon, posted a fine text about this whole situation:

"In five years time Kirill Serebrennikov created a powerful theater with many outstanding productions. This is a success story, and a serious one. I do not doubt that every penny allocated to Gogol Center went into the work of constructing and running the theater. I know that Gogol Center itself earned money on ticket sales and attracted funds from patrons. The Gogol's experience as an economic center should be studied rather than be tromped under the boots of our beloved cultural authorities."

Alexander Vartanov, a director, offers this commentary on his Facebook page: "The economy of culture in Russia is arranged in such a way that anyone can receive a knock on the door at any moment. It's not customary to talk about this, but in Russia any director of any theater and any director of any film company is at risk - including the most beloved Orthodox statesmen with the president's tattoo over their heart. That's how the system is arranged. That is why any case like this is exclusively political. This is the political persecution of an artist who is not friendly with the authorities or is not properly friendly with the authorities or is friendly with the wrong authorities. This is an act of intimidation...."