Fictional measures: 129 million rubles stolen in the Serebrenikov case

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Fraud on an especially large scale in the amount of 129 million rubles in the Seventh Studio case has been proven. The court found that Serebrennikov himself was in charge of the general management of the "criminal scheme" of stealing money allocated by the state for the Platform project. And two producers - Itin and Malobrodsky - prepared overstated funding requests and helped steal money.

“The criminal group was stable and acted with the aim of embezzling budget funds,” said Olesya Mendeleeva, judge of the Meshchansky Court, as she read out the verdict.

The Moscow court re-qualified the charge against the former director of the department of state support for the arts of the Ministry of Culture, Sofya Apfelbaum, in the Seventh Studio case from fraud to negligence. According to the verdict, she was not aware of the criminal intentions of other defendants. Announcing the verdict, the judge said that Sophia Apfelbaum could have checked, but did not check the documents of "Seventh Studio" due to "inappropriate attitude to the service."

As a result, all the defendants in this case were sentenced to suspended sentences. Serebrennikov himself received a three-year suspended sentence and must pay a large fine. The court also ruled to recover from the defendants damage in the amount of 129 million rubles in the framework of a civil claim.

For this, the security arrest imposed during the investigation on Malobrodsky's Skoda Octavia car, Serebrennikov's apartment in Germany worth 300 thousand euros, jewelry and cash: 12, 6 million rubles, five thousand euros and 87 thousand dollars were left in force.

"The Serebrennikov case" was commented on by the presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov. He refused to give him a personal assessment. However, he clarified that the case should be the impetus for further checks. “Undoubtedly, the Serebrennikov case is a reason to carefully analyze how public funds are spent in cultural institutions in order to reduce the potential for corruption in this area. This is the function of the Ministry of Culture, "Peskov specified.

The Minister of Culture of Russia Olga Lyubimova, in turn, commenting on the case of Kirill Serebrennikov, noted that the Ministry of Culture in this case was the injured party. According to her, the department is now developing mechanisms to exclude such cases in the future.

The applause of the liberals

Serebrennikov fans and liberal activists prepared to use the process to stage a massive protest against the "government repression." Hundreds of Serebrennikov's fans and liberal activists gathered outside the courthouse.

When it became known that he and his accomplices were going free, it was greeted with applause and shouts of jubilation. The liberals saw this as evidence of the weakness of the government, which, under their pressure, made concessions.

But for many, such an unusually mild sentence to people who stole huge amounts of money from the state caused bewilderment.

“In our country, the one who stole the loaf is given real terms, but here it was announced - a“criminal group”, 129 million were stolen, and the accused got off with a slight fright. And is this justice ?! - users on the network are outraged.

However, against this background, sober voices can be heard, believing that in this case the opposition has lost a reason to make Serebrennikov a “victimized hero”, to turn him into a “victim of a bloody regime,” and to give the West a reason for new aggressive attacks on Russia. After all, it is no coincidence that when the verdict had not yet been passed in Moscow, a group of unknown persons had already gathered in front of the building of the Russian embassy in Berlin with a poster "Free Serebrennikov." And it was written in English. Although in Germany they speak German, as is well known, and the director was tried in Russia in Russian. It was clear on whose order this provocation was organized.

They are already turning this criminal case into a political one in the United States. For example, the Washington Post writes that Serebrennikov is allegedly persecuted for his “frequent criticism of conservative politicians, the increasingly harsh censorship under Putin, and growing authoritarianism. He spoke in favor of anti-government protests in 2018, supported LGBT rights and criticized the growing political influence of the Russian Orthodox Church,”the newspaper said, hinting that this was the reason for the trial of the director.

“The liberal part of our intelligentsia is very fond of screaming and shouting. To compare Kirill with Meyerhold, whose nails were pulled out and beaten on the heels of an elderly man, - Alexander Slavutsky, artistic director and director of the Kazan Academic Russian Bolshoi Drama Theater named after V. I. Kachalova. -Well, why engage in demagoguery? This is the most disgusting and disgusting. It was clear that this would end. The only thing is that our law enforcement system is very long and heavy. It could have been done faster and more painlessly. If they gave so much money, why didn't they demand a timely report? …

Serebrennikov is not judged for performances. Not because there is someone walking there naked. This is a subjective question. They were not judged for being talented or mediocre, but for wasted money.

I, being the artistic director and director of the theater, answer for every ruble, I report all the time. Dozens of commissions check me. And I myself could never in my life allow myself that the guys allowed themselves. If they gave so much money, why didn't they demand a timely report? A person, if he steals, must go to jail."

Documents burned and destroyed

Kirill Serebrennikov was detained in August 2017 in St. Petersburg. The director was taken to Moscow, charged with large-scale fraud, and the Basmanny Court sent him under house arrest. We are talking about the "Platform" project, for which from 2011 to 2014 the Ministry of Culture allocated more than 214 million rubles as part of the development and popularization of contemporary art.

The Platform was implemented by the Seventh Studio, an autonomous non-profit organization. It, in particular, included producers Alexey Malobrodsky, Yuri Itin and Ekaterina Voronova, Nina Maslyaeva was appointed chief accountant. The first suspects were Itin, Malobrodsky, Maslyaeva and Voronova, who managed to escape abroad and is now on the international wanted list.

It was found that the participants of the "Platform" deliberately overestimated the costs, while the actual costs were much lower.

Serebrennikov, as the court established, instructed the producers to conclude fictitious contracts with controlled legal entities and private entrepreneurs, allegedly providing services for the Platform.

Under the guise of paying for these contracts, the money received from the Ministry of Culture of Russia was withdrawn to the settlement accounts of so-called one-day firms, cashed and divided.

In October 2017, another suspect was detained - the director of the Russian Academic Youth Theater Sophia Apfelbaum. On behalf of the Ministry of Culture, she signed an agreement to provide the Seventh Studio with 214 million rubles, and was also suspected of helping to reconcile reporting documents with inflated costs.

“After the publication of the arrest of Maslyaeva, Voronova called me and in a stern voice ordered to destroy all the documentation, allegedly by order of Serebrennikov,” said Larisa Voikina, ex-accountant of the Seventh Studio, who was a witness in the case.“I deleted some of the documents that were stored electronically in my laptop, and I burned the paper ones or passed them through a shredder.”

Why was he protected

So, the court delivered its verdict. Do you remember with what pathos the defenders of Serebrennikov quite recently completely denied everything? When the director was placed under house arrest, a heart-rending cry arose among his colleagues and throughout the liberal camp: “Theft? This is the creator, the genius of the theater! This cannot be! The money went only to the performances! All accusations are sucked from the finger! A shame!.

The liberal media outraged, angry petitions were drawn up, statements of protest were made "Freedom to Kirill Serebrennikov!" etc.

At the same time, not only prominent liberals spoke out in defense of Serebrennikov, but also many respected cultural figures. They even got aroused abroad, where they began to declare that the "Putin regime" was persecuting the creator, that they wanted to "rot away behind bars" for his convictions for the innocent "genius of the theater", and that the whole case of embezzlement in his theater was fabricated by the "Kremlin prosecutors ", etc., etc.

Before the start of the trial, theatrical figures in Moscow collected more than three thousand signatures in defense of the defendants and sent a letter to the Minister of Culture Olga Lyubimova. Theater directors, directors, actors called on the department to withdraw the claim for damages and thus "contribute to a fair resolution of the case." They were not embarrassed that all this was a clear attempt to influence the impartial execution of justice, illegal pressure on the court. It is clear that the ministry refused to meet halfway.

But despite the sentence to the swindler (yes, yes, to the swindler - that's what the court called him!), The director's colleagues continue to acquit him. “There were financial violations. But no one became an orphan,”said Kirill Krok, director of the Vakhtangov Theater, cynically. “Kirill Serebrennikov had a mess. But they punish for the mess in a different way!”- director Pavel Lungin stubbornly insists. Yes, no, it was not just a "mess", but the embezzlement of state funds on an especially large scale.

The fact that the case of the stealing Serebrennikov will now in any case continue to be actively promoted in the West is understandable - there any reason for Russophobic attacks is good. But why did they still defend him and continue to defend him with such zeal, although from the very beginning it was clear that in his theater accounting was not clean?

And for the same reason that today they stood up just as fiercely for the actor Mikhail Efremov, who killed the courier Sergei Zakharov in his heavy jeep while drunk and under drugs - out of shop solidarity. The “defenders” defend not even Serebrennikov himself, but themselves, their own right to be above the law.

"Naked", "Thugs" and "Bed scenes"

And here is the time to remind you what kind of “genius of the theater” it is, who is so fiercely defended not only by his colleagues, but also by the entire liberal crowd. By education, Serebrennikov is a physicist, a graduate of the Rostov Physics Department, he has no special theatrical education. And in 2012 he was suddenly appointed the chief director of one of the largest and oldest theaters in Moscow. Gogol. And they do it contrary to the law without any competition. But what was so “genius” that he did on stage? The names of Serebrennikov's productions alone speak for themselves: "Undressed", "The Diary of a Murderer", "Bed Scenes", "Explicit Polaroid Pictures", "Naked Pioneer", "Depicting the Victim", "Pillow Man", "Thugs" …

During these performances, children are incited to commit suicide and raped, GThe hero of the “play” “Plasticine” is a 14-year-old boy who was raped by his mother and two men. In "Polaroid shots" one can see necrophilia and pederasty at the same time - two males, dead and alive, copulate on the stage. The Naked Pioneer features a girl who went to the front, was raped by Soviet soldiers and became a front-line prostitute. In the play «Cleopatra and Antony "the scenery depicts scenes of copulation, and at the end of the performance the action is transferred to the Beslan school, etc., etc.

In July 2013, the Investigative Committee became interested in Serebrennikov's works. The play "Pillow Man" began to be checked for pedophilia.

The director gave written explanations to the investigator about the presence of “scenes of pedophilia” and scenes of “violence involving children” in the production. Ivan Dyachenko, coordinator of the For Morality coalition, said that the members of the movement did not want children to participate in performances where violence is used, profanity is made, where various scenes, sexual acts, and so on.

Then the Moscow Department of Culture demanded to cancel the screening at the Gogol Center of a film about Pussy Riot, entitled Show Trial: The Story of Pussy Riot. Soon a scandalous film about LGBT children "Adele's Life" was presented at the theater. Then the independent fund for the development of culture "Art without Borders" turned to the Prosecutor General's Office, asking to check the "Gogol-Center" for the use of "foul language, propaganda of immoral behavior, pornography" in the performances. Another scandal erupted when it became known about Serebrennikov's intention to make the film Tchaikovsky according to his own script, where the great composer was to be presented precisely from the position of his supposedly non-standard sexual orientation.

By the way, the appointment of Serebrennikov as the chief director at the Gogol Theater, which before him was known as one of the last bastions of the realistic trend in art, caused an active protest from the theater actors who compared this appointment with a raider takeover.

"The appointment of Serebrennikov as artistic director, calling for the overthrow of the principles of the Stanislavsky system, which denies the Russian psychological theater, is a powerful impetus to the death of the Russian theater," the actors said in their open letter. The ex-artistic director of the Gogol Theater, Sergei Yashin, who was fired to appoint Serebrennikov, generally called the incident "banditry."

But it is not hard to guess why it was Serebrennikov who, in violation of all the rules and despite the protests of the actors, was put at the head of the theater. Because the liberal lobby, which rules our culture behind the scenes, focusing on the “progressive West”, has the following attitude: if you portrayed a “country of slaves” from Russia, and the Russian people as a bunch of drunken morons, then you are the talent. And if you have actors on stage without pants, pedophiles and other abomination, then you are already an original creator, a subverter of foundations, a great director. Therefore, for liberals and globalists, Serebrennikov is undoubtedly great. That is why they began to welcome him in the West, constantly showering him with prizes, inviting him to stage performances, and actively promoting in the media. And since there are many prizes (by the way, in Russia these prizes are given to such as Serebrennikov, the same “advanced” critics”), and even in the West, then it's clear - a genius!

And the authorities, who flirt with the liberals in our country, gave Serebrennikov's Gogol Center the most favored nation treatment. Already in the first year of its existence, his brainchild was financed at the level of the largest theaters in Moscow.

Immediately after the opening, it was allocated a subsidy in the amount of 228 million rubles (!). “Not a single Moscow theater was financed as generously as the Gogol Center. Many collectives never dreamed of such means as were at the disposal of Kirill Serebrennikov's theater,”the theater-goers in the capital commented with indignation.

"Senseless and merciless" Russian world ""

And here is what else this "genius", who was so generously subsidized by the authorities, treated the Russian viewer, in addition to scenes about pedophiles and "naked pioneers". Take, for example, his sensational performance "Who Lives Well in Russia". Liberal criticism itself describes what is happening on the stage as follows: “Modern men from adjacent villages, who converged on a pole path and decided to find out who lives happily at ease in Russia. Modern landowners, officials, priests, merchants, boyars, ministers, tsar, after all? They prepared thoroughly for this performance: the artists and the director repeated the route of those peasants, and the result of what they saw was presented at the Gogol Center. Archetypes are tenacious, the spirit of the people, slavery, hunger, hope, eternal patience and, of course, serfdom - all this is eternal. This Serebrennikov shows very subtly. This is where the very senseless and merciless "Russian world" is born, which people love to talk about today. And what he is, in fact, no one really understands to the end. Or what are those notorious our spiritual braces? And here they are - compassion, humility, passivity, hope for a miracle, eternal drunkenness, servility and complete reconciliation with fate and reality. Nothing bright and optimistic."

Well, how can you not declare such a performance an "outstanding production"? It was him who was taken by Serebrennikov to the theater festival in Avignon, where, of course, the subtle European audience greeted him with thunderous applause. This is how he, ever since the time of the ever-memorable Marquis de Custine, is used to seeing Russia - "the dark despotic kingdom of the barbarians."

And what do ordinary Russian viewers (and not liberal critics and Russophobes in the West) think about the creations of this "theater genius"? Here are just a few responses from the network about his performance "The Naked Pioneer".

Leila Sulikaeva:

"What an abomination!"

Marianna Volkova:

"And what else can mediocrity at the trough do?"

Stakhanov:

"Moral ugliness, filmed by a moral ugliness, for … well, you get the idea."

Olga Moskovkina:

“And they are broadcasting to us on TV that the West is rotting! It turned out that Moscow had already been captured …"

Svetlana Y.:

“I did it with difficulty. Just so that no doubts arise. In the remainder: Disgust. An attempt to "harness a horse and a quivering doe into one cart" led to lewdness. Rare lewdness."

Alexey Bestuzhev:

“Degradation of the theater scene as it is. Plus a stable and unquenchable spitting on everything Soviet. How disgusting, damn it!"

Raunchy strip club

“The Gogol Theater,” the well-known publicist Anatoly Wasserman wrote about Serebrennikov, “has never been the best in Moscow, it’s generally difficult to be the best in Moscow, given that there are dozens of theaters in Moscow. But this was the theater of the classical school, dating back to the times when Stanislavsky himself was not a director, but an aspiring actor. And the fact that this theater was practically destroyed, and in its place a strip club with obscene jokes called "Gogol Center" was created - this, in my opinion, is an undoubted merit to the modern sickening concept, according to which the classics are just an excuse for mockery of her, of the public, good taste and common sense. And it is clear that Serebrennikov's colleagues in the destruction of society in general and culture in particular should sooner or later highly appreciate his merits in this destructive business …"

Even among the opposition, many did not at all consider Serebrennikov a "genius of the theater." For example, the famous writer and publicist Eduard Limonov once gave him the following assessment: “I do not consider him some kind of great, amazingly talented director. Serebrennikov is still neither Lyubimov nor Zakharov. I see him as a cultural figure of the third or fourth category, no more. Yes, even a genius has no right to make exceptions to the rules for him! As the saying goes, "the law is harsh, but it is the law."

“The Serebrennikov case”, by the way, like the “Efremov case”, convincingly shows that in our country among art workers - in theater, cinema, on television and the media, a group of rich, famous and authoritative people has formed, who are united not so much by common political views, as much as belonging to the "one circle", which opposes itself to the rest of society and lives according to its own special laws.