What does the Serebrennikov Case mean to all of us? "The Case of Serebrennikov" speaks about the real state of "spiritual bonds": opinion.

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Last week, director Kirill Serebrennikov was detained and placed under house arrest on charges of misappropriation of funds. The arrest of a cultural figure of this level in post-Soviet Russia has not yet happened. The winner of the Cannes Film Festival, the Grand Prix of the Rome Film Festival, the nominee of the Grand Prix of the Venice Film Festival - this is only a small part of the well-deserved awards of the artistic director of the Gogol Center Serebrennikov. The public does not believe in the guilt of the director, considering the case politically motivated. What is the background of this theatrical and criminal scandal?

Alexey MAKARKIN, First Vice President of the Center for Political Technologies
- Approaching presidential elections In Russia, discussions are intensifying about what should be the policy in the cultural sphere. They go far beyond the corporate framework, as they are connected not only with industry topics, but also with the country's development paths. This is a consequence of the events of 2014, when the annexation of Crimea and the conservative wave created inflated expectations among the most anti-Western part of society. But there were no new territorial increments, the Novorossiya project stalled. There has also been no change in the elite, for which inclusion in the global world is an essential value. In this regard, the postponement of the premiere of Nureyev at the Bolshoi Theater looks like an attempt to compensate. Firstly, the theme of sexual minorities is clearly expressed in the ballet, and secondly, its director is Kirill Serebrennikov, who criticizes politics Russian authorities. By the way, some of the members of the theatre's Board of Trustees, including Alexander Zhukov, Olga Golodets, Roman Abramovich, Viktor Vekselberg, Andrei Kostin, Alexei Mordashov, have become supporters of the speedy release of Nureyev on the stage...
The cultural choice cannot be separated from the political one - the supporters of the modernist "mainstream", as a rule, are interested in normalizing relations with the West, while the adherents of traditionalism take an anti-Western position.

The case against Serebrennikov was initiated under Part 4 of Art. 159 (fraud in particular large size), which carries up to 10 years in prison. At the end of May, searches were carried out in the theater and in Serebrennikov's apartment. Soon, on suspicion of fraud on an especially large scale, the general director of the Seventh Studio created at the theater, Yuri Itin, and the chief accountant, Nina Maslyaeva, were arrested. The first was sent under house arrest, the second - in a pre-trial detention center. A month later, the former general producer of the Seventh Studio was arrested and former director"Gogol Center" Alexey Malobrodsky.

Human rights activists and liberal politicians vehemently condemned Serebrennikov's arrest. The creative intelligentsia is sharper in its definitions, speaking of an encroachment on the freedom of creativity and of reprisals against a dissident, free-thinking master. The famous director Pavel Bardin called what is happening "another victory of violence against culture." Another venerable director, Pavel Lungin, noted: “There is no need for an arrest. Kirill does not leave anywhere, he works and goes to all interrogations, writes explanations. It seems to me that this is some kind of vindictive cruelty.

At the same time, another part of the non-systemic opposition does not support the wave of indignation, turning away from Serebrennikov. He is blamed, for example, for refusing to sign a letter in defense of director Oleg Sentsov, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison, who was accused of preparing terrorist attacks in Crimea. The letter signed by many famous directors and actors - Andrzej Wajda, Wim Wenders, Krzysztof Zanussi, Aki Kaurismäki, Johnny Depp and others. And in general, Serebrennikov, they say, was allowed more than others, precisely because he was not an oppositionist, but collaborated with the authorities. So what caused the repression against the famous director?

On this topic

Version 1

There is no background, this is purely a crime story

According to investigators, the management of the Gogol Center "cashed out the funds" allocated for the theatrical project "Platform". The amount of damage in the criminal case amounted to 68 million rubles. The accountant Maslyaeva gave detailed testimony on this matter, who immediately agreed to give the investigation necessary indications. Maslyayeva stated that, by order of the management, she "entered false data into the financial statements." According to law enforcement agencies, the Seventh Studio contracts for the purchase of paper, gift sets, and alcohol were fake, and 160 “garbage dump” firms were involved in fictitious document management. Tenders, they say, for contract work for the theater with a total amount of almost 5 million rubles were won by companies whose founder was Serebrennikov himself.

At the same time, even the investigators themselves admit that all this money was not appropriated by the director for personal needs. He is charged only with misappropriation of funds. The fact is that the money from the Ministry of Culture allocated for this or that project remains on the account in the treasury and can be spent only (!) Upon completion of the work. And they are needed, as a rule, even before that - in the process of preparation. So you have to get them in a roundabout way, creating one-day firms to cash them out with fictitious acts of work. Knowledgeable people will confirm that many theaters, and business structures in general, are forced to do just that. But the law, as they say, is the law.

Version 2

Serebrennikov paid the price for political and creative courage

Film critic, editor-in-chief of the Art of Cinema magazine Anton Dolin believes: “The evidence is unconvincing, the case looks absolutely fabricated. We are talking, of course, about repressive measures, about intimidation. It is no coincidence that the very person who was extremely independent, who refused the most widespread type of censorship in Russia - self-censorship, was arrested - and in such a cruel way.

The Gogol Center is one of the most acute social, political theater venues in the capital. For example, there was a play "(M) student" for several seasons in a row. Based on it by Serebrennikov and with the same set of actors, the recent film "The Apprentice" - anti-clerical and anti-totalitarian, exposing hypocrisy and cowardice in society - deservedly received a prize at the Cannes Film Festival. In addition, for several years now, the Moscow Art Theater has been running the play “The Forest” in a modernized production by Serebrennikov - politically bold and openly throwing accusations against the Russian authorities. performance where main character his style, diction and gestures resembles the president. What about the recent scandal with the Nureyev ballet, the premiere of which was canceled by direct order of the Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky because of “gay propaganda”? There are clearly enough reasons to “close” Serebrennikov.

Version 3

Serebrennikov became a victim of the war of the Kremlin clans

In 2011, Serebrennikov staged the play Near Zero at the Moscow Art Theater, exposing the Russian political world as unprincipled and corrupt. The author of the play was a certain Natan Dubovitsky, but in the creative and political circles they confidently called the name of the real author - Vladislav Surkov, then deputy head of the presidential administration. Surkov, according to some reports, could patronize the outrageous and rebellious director. Apparently, therefore, Serebrennikov refused to sign a public letter in defense of Sentsov, although in in social networks, like many of his colleagues, spoke out against his arrest. Perhaps he did not want to lose his political “roof”, because Surkov was one of the authors of the annexation of Crimea to Russia.

This "roof" in the person of Surkov gave Serebrennikov the opportunity to create with a degree of political sharpness that other Russian theater directors cannot afford. But it was this “roof” that was, perhaps, the reason for the current arrest. The attack on the Surkov clan, that is, on the "systemic liberals", by the "conservative-siloviki" continues. And the moral of this fable in relation to the director is this: you can’t flirt with power - proximity to it scorches the wings ...

Edited: 26.08.2017 12:24

Comments 3

Alexander Efros 11.09.2017 08:04

K. Serebrennikov and accomplices, taking advantage of the complete impunity of that time, stole 68 million rubles through forgeries and deceptions. But, as they say, *no matter how the rope twists...*, it's time to collect stones. In a word - to be held accountable for what they have done. And no letters, demonstrations and speeches in defense of Serebrennikov / note: Itin, Malobrodsky and others for some reason are not remembered at rallies / will ever put pressure on the judiciary. According to respected lawyers, Kiryusha faces up to 10 years in prison, and only a sincere confession will help reduce the punishment by several years. It's time to change your mind!

Artyom Davydyan 22.09.2017 22:00

So, let's look objectively: some gifted, I do not argue, but in a social and sexual sense, an indistinct creature named Serebrennikov with a clouded claim to intelligence with a fishy look trembles the titanic slabs of the public in order to support his great martyrdom.
Let's agree on the obvious: not the most gifted, obviously promoted by the gay community, an indistinct unit of mass art, it seems, should eat into our brains with its protest. It takes root in the convolutions badly ... It is understandable - what kind of protest, against what, etc.
But we, including - grated rolls: let this amoebic sluggish something report to the taxpayers (forgive my unfamiliar syllable). And we will calm down. Let's not rest - someone needs to work for the benefit of pensions and old age (I believe our grandchildren, Kirill Serebrennikov and his descendants have a big problem).
And, well, the fact that he is a yogi and in general spiritually undermined should relax us all to the point of impossible: after all, it was not some kind of serf who spent state money. Spiritually approached the process ...

The Basmanny Court of Moscow placed under house arrest Kirill Serebrennikov, who was charged yesterday with fraud (part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). According to investigators, the director organized the theft of 68 million rubles allocated to his company "Seventh Studio" for the "Platform" project. The UK indicates that the money was cashed out through shell companies. Lawyer Ilya Remeslo understood this case. He explains what the essence of the claims of the investigation is and whether the measures against Serebrennikov are justified.

To begin with, let me remind you of the circumstances of the director's case, and also share some details.

The fact first became known on May 22, when Serebrennikov was searched. But, as follows from the decision to conduct a search, the case was opened back in 2015:

According to the investigation, on February 1, 2014, the ANO Seventh Studio, headed by Serebrennikov, concluded an agreement with the Ministry of Culture on the allocation of subsidies to support the development and popularization of contemporary art in the amount of 66,500,000 rubles.

According to investigators, having received these funds, the leadership of the Seventh Studio decided to steal them, concluding contracts with a certain Infostyle LLC for tailoring and technical support services for concerts. Subsequently, these documents were submitted to the Ministry of Culture as reports.

To begin with, let me remind you of the circumstances of the director's case, and also share some details.

The fact first became known on May 22, when Serebrennikov was searched. But, as follows from the decision to conduct a search, the case was opened back in 2015:

Attracting a fashionable artistic figure Kirill Serebrennikov as a witness to the investigation of the theft in the Gogol Center headed by him, many colleagues and fans of the director immediately called the "new 37th year." Despite the fact that no targeted accusations of involvement in theft in the theater have been brought against the director, in social networks for a short time Serebrennikov's support groups managed to form. “Before that, Nemtsov, Syria, Ukraine, Georgia, Beslan, Kursk, Yukos, NTV, Chechen wars. And before that, the KGB, forced psychiatric hospitals, prisons, exiles, the Prague Spring ... Before them, the NKVD-VChK and further into the depths of centuries, ”this is one of the typical examples of the creativity of members of such groups on Facebook.

Sentiments similar in spirit are demonstrated not only by “home-worker liberals”, who are opposed to everything that comes from the Russian authorities and Russian justice. A similar position was taken by the CEO Bolshoi Theater Vladimir Urin- a creature of the official-patriotic minister of culture of the Russian Federation Vladimir Medinsky(It is worth recalling that in February 2014, Urin was one of the first to sign the appeal of the creative intelligentsia in support of sending to the Crimea " polite people"). “We are dealing with a very serious matter. This matter is an artist. I think something, as it was done in relation to the director, is wrong. He is an artist, a person who, from my point of view, is not responsible, as I know, for the financial component,” Matvey Urin told Interfax.

It can be assumed that such a point of view is more or less common to a significant part of the creative intelligentsia both in the capital and abroad - that part of it for which the outrageous director Serebrennikov personifies the success of the national theater recent years. From this logic it follows that a person of art is a subtle sensitive nature far from everything material, and anyone wants and can offend such a nature. Especially one who knows little about high art.

Meanwhile, it is worth recalling that the "Gogol Center" in its status is a state state-financed organization(GBU) culture, subordinated to the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation. And director Serebrennikov, as the head of this State Budgetary Institution, is, in fact, a state official, akin to the director of any other state enterprise. Accordingly, according to his status, he was simply obliged to be aware of all the financial transactions of the theater, especially since in all state institutions (as well as in private companies) in terms of finances, the final word is with the top leader.

It would be a different matter if the creative person Serebrennikov did not go into financial transactions that are boring for all artistic natures and trust them to third parties. But earlier, the artistic director demonstrated his interest in money quite openly - in his interviews with journalists. For example, last year, the money-hungry director told Harper’s Bazaar about the promotion of his film The Apprentice at the Cannes Film Festival: “I know that several other Russian films applied for this festival and were rejected. And we didn't get a rejection. Then I say: “Probably they flew us.”

The style of this statement speaks volumes - it is in this tone that managers usually talk about how they are fulfilling the sales plan this month. In the same interview, Serebrennikov himself calls his “service to the muses” such a by no means creative word as “industry”: “I’m in the industry, I pay too much attention to how everything is done or not done.” True, his work is “effective” event management, which differs from similar trading management only by the prefix event (event).

By the way, the fashionable director, a native of Rostov-on-Don, a city with a long and very specific business tradition, in 2012 became the artistic director of the Gogol Theater on the Kurskaya metro station, which was then dying, largely because the then Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation Alexander Avdeev believed in Serebrennikov's managerial talent. The new artistic director managed to save the old Moscow theater, and here Serebrennikov must be given his due. True, this happened by turning the theater into a profitable cultural, entertainment and commercial enterprise "Gogol Center".

By and large, the Gogol Center is not too different in nature from the Jean-Jacques cafe, popular with metropolitan hipsters. Some elderly Moscow theater-goer, who once visited the Gogol Theater with pleasure, is unlikely to go to the Gogol Center. The typical audience of the Gogol Center was listed by the Harper Bazaar journalist who interviewed Serebrennikov himself: top managers, regulars of elite nightclubs, fashionable party-goers, bohemian wealthy students ... Taking into account such an audience, the productions of the Gogol Center were compared by the journalist "with the long-awaited events from the gossip column. Such a scope requires the head of the Gogol Center to be not a bohemian child floating in marshmallows and cupids, but a tough and prudent manager. Which, as we understand, Serebrennikov is.

So with the "creative nature" of Serebrennikov, everything is more or less clear. What cannot yet be said about how much theatrical money has gone nowhere in the process of what the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation calls embezzlement, since the investigation has not yet announced exact figures. Moskovsky Komsomolets, referring to its sources in the competent authorities, names amounts up to 200 million rubles. You can also recall that back in April 2015, the director of the Moscow Department of Culture Alexander Kibovsky said that the Gogol Center owed 80 million rubles (for comparison, when the fashionable party center was still a declining city theater, its debts amounted to about 12 million rubles). Again, we emphasize that, since the Gogol Center - government agency All of his income is public funds.

In order not to build unfounded hypotheses about where these debts could come from, it is worth returning to the actual creative component of the Kirill Serebrennikov Theater - in that aspect where it directly intersects with the "materiel". In the prevailing public opinion, the theater directed by Serebrennikov is a complex and provocative in content "art for the very few." In this case, why do many directors of “non-experimental”, classical Russian theaters and studios year after year complain about the lack of state funding, although the policy of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, judging by the recent report of Vladimir Medinsky in the State Duma, is aimed at supporting high-quality mass art? And if we are talking about the “eternal spiritual values of Russia”, then what does it have to do with, for example, such a masterpiece by Serebrennikov as the play “Thugs” based on the novel Zahara Prilepina"Sanya"? Even viewers who are very loyal to the art house noted that Serebrennikov, in staging Prilepin's novel, turned everything upside down, distorting the essence of the work. Instead of the horror of the "dashing nineties" that Prilepin wanted to portray, the fashion director got a savoring of human vices.

A very specific fashion director (who, as those who still remember the Rostov period of his work, say, began with productions of ancient dramas with the main characters in ballet tutus) also perceives the history of Russia. “If you read memoirs, for example, written about the Second World War, you can see that the young people who went through it were happy,” the director told a fashion magazine journalist. - They clearly understood everything, the concept of the world was extremely clear to them: here are the Nazis - they must be killed, but the Motherland - it must be defended. All tragedies, nightmares began upon return. Then people began to drink, lost their bearings. They did not understand why they, the victors of fascism, returned home, having passed the roads of Europe, and they were put in camps.

However, director Serebrennikov is far from the first case when cultural figures who, to put it mildly, promote values that are far from those declared by the state, find themselves in favor with state officials. You can, for example, remember scandalous story 2011 with the presentation of the Innovation Prize, established by the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, to the Voina art group for the scandalous action with the image of a penis on the Liteiny Bridge in St. Petersburg. True, then it was about "penny" amounts of 400 thousand rubles.

In the case of the Gogol Center, the scope of disbursement of funds was clearly much greater, and this already brings to mind completely different stories involving officials of the Ministry of Culture - for example, a criminal case against a number of its leaders, headed by Deputy Minister Grigory Pirumov on the facts of theft during the restoration of cultural monuments. After that, an early resignation loomed before Minister Medinsky, but authoritative representatives of the creative intelligentsia immediately stood up to protect the official - for example, the actor Oleg Basilashvili, a convinced Yeltsinist liberal, clearly far from restoration affairs, who stated that he believed in the honesty and decency of the minister. However, the “Serebrennikov case” once again leads to suspicion that there is a very big difference, if not an impassable abyss, between the declarations of artists and the real morals in this area.

Alexander Ashurov, especially for

The Investigative Committee of Russia detained the capital's director and artistic director of the Moscow theater "Gogol-Center" Kirill Serebrennikov on suspicion of organizing fraud on an especially large scale.

The position of the investigation

"The main department for the investigation of particularly important cases of the Russian Investigative Committee on suspicion of organizing the theft of at least 68 million rubles, allocated in 2011-14 for the implementation of the Platform project, detained the artistic director of the Moscow Gogol Center theater, Kirill Serebrennikov," the statement says. in the official statement of the Investigative Committee, which was announced by the press secretary of the TFR Svetlana Petrenko.

According to the version of the investigation, Serebrennikov's criminal actions were carried out by him in collusion with other officials - the ex-director of the Gogol Center Alexey Maloborodsky, as well as the leaders of the non-profit organization "Seventh Studio" specially created for these purposes: the general director Yuri Itin and accountant Nina Maslyaeva.

This version of the investigation is based on the testimony of Maslyayeva herself, who was arrested back in May 2017, when searches were conducted in the Gogol Center and Serebrennikov’s house in the case of embezzlement of state funds.

In the spring, the artistic director of the Gogol Center and, at the same time, the founder of the Seventh Studio, was involved in the case as a witness, but even then the ICR suspected Serebrennikov of organizing a criminal group in order to embezzle money allocated by the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation to support the theater.

Subsequently, Maslyayeva made a confession, which was announced by the judge at a meeting in the Moscow City Court, where a complaint was considered about the extension of Malobrodsky's arrest, taken simultaneously with Maslyayeva. According to this statement, Maslyaeva directly accused the artistic director of organizing a criminal group:

“Kirill Serebrennikov developed a plan to embezzle funds allocated for the Platform project. Serebrennikov and Malobrodsky cashed out with my help,” she claims.

According to investigators, the Ministry of Culture allocated 68 million rubles to the Seventh Studio for organizing theatrical performances, including the play A Midsummer Night's Dream. However, Itin, Malobrodsky and Maslyaeva, in collusion with Serebrennikov, decided to steal part of this money, which was hidden by false financial documents for fictitious expenses for organizing the performance.

In fact, according to the investigation, Seventh Studio did not incur such expenses, which led to the theft of more than two million rubles.

Serebrennikov's excuses and possible verdict

Kirill Serebrennikov headed creative work Gogol Center since 2012. Officially, he was not the director of the theater, as he is not now, however, it was under his name that the Ministry of Culture carried out targeted support for the Gogol Center within the framework of the system of state grants for the development of culture.

During the tenure of the current person involved in the criminal case as artistic director of the Gogol Center Theater, and personally, Serebrennikov has repeatedly received high Russian and international awards. The last of them, "Europe - a new theatrical reality", was awarded to the director this year and was supposed to be received in December 2017 in Rome.

However, apparently, now it has become impossible - the TFR has direct evidence of Serebrennikov's guilt.

According to the statements of the artistic director himself, an attempt to accuse him of misuse of budget money, and even more so of fraud and the creation of a criminal group, is "absurd and schizophrenic." According to him, the performance "A Midsummer Night's Dream" was played within the framework of the "Platform" project more than 15 times and all the expenses for its implementation were real.

On the other hand, the current leadership of the Gogol Center emphatically does not give any comments on the progress of the Seventh Studio case, preferring to rely on the conclusions of the investigation rather than on past or current merits and regalia of their artistic director.

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