In the case of embezzlement of budget money allocated to the Seventh Studio company in 2011–14. According to investigators, the total amount of stolen funds is 200 million rubles. After the search, Serebrennikov was interrogated as a witness and released.
The next day, the security forces detained the former general director of the Seventh Studio, Yuri Itin, and the former chief accountant, Nina Maslyaeva. They were accused of fraud on an especially large scale (Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code); it was about the amount of 1.2 million rubles. Itin was sent under house arrest, and Maslyaeva was sent to a pre-trial detention center; the latter pleaded guilty and made a deal with the investigation.
On May 24, at the ceremony of presenting state awards in the Kremlin, actor Yevgeny Mironov handed Vladimir Putin a letter in defense of Serebrennikov. Answering the actor's question about the reason for the searches in the theater, Putin pointedly: "Yes, fools." Later, he "ridiculous" participation in the investigative actions of the riot police.
Nevertheless, a month after the first searches, the former director of the Gogol Center, Alexei Malobrodsky, who served as the general producer of the Seventh Studio in 2011–12, was detained. He was also charged with fraud: according to the UK, among the stolen money were funds for the production of A Midsummer Night's Dream - the performance allegedly was never staged (while the Shakespearean play is still being played at the Gogol Center). The amount of damage in this episode was estimated at 2.3 million rubles. Malobrodsky himself, which had nothing to do with the cashing out of money from the Seventh Studio.
In early August, it became known that Maslyaeva gave on Serebrennikov, Itin and Malobrodsky, who allegedly "developed a plan for embezzlement" of the "Platform" project. At the same time, Itin, Malobrodsky and Maslyaeva were charged with an expanded charge: the amount of damage increased to 68 million rubles. Relatives of the ex-accountant of the Seventh Studio said that they were being followed by unknown people.
Employees of SK Serebrennikov in St. Petersburg, where he worked on the film "Summer" about Viktor Tsoi. According to the director, the security forces took him almost from the set, put him in a minibus and took him to Moscow; At the same time, Kommersant reported that the FSB operatives escorted him to the airport after his arrest.
On the morning of August 22, Serebrennikov was already at the central office of the Investigative Committee, and in the late afternoon the director was charged with fraud. According to investigators, in 2011 he came up with the Platform project, for the implementation of which in subsequent years he received more than 214 million rubles from the Ministry of Culture. At the direction of Serebrennikov and Itin, the employees of the Seventh Studio allegedly inflated the cost of events, and then made unreliable reports.
In addition, the "Seventh Studio" entered into contracts with one-day firms, the money for which "was cashed and distributed by Serebrennikov among the accomplices." The Investigative Committee named another person involved in the case - this is the executive producer of the play "A Midsummer Night's Dream" Ekaterina Voronova, she was put on the wanted list.
After the searches, well-known actors, directors (including Pavel Lungin, Alexander Sokurov and), journalists and human rights activists spoke in defense of Serebrennikov. Appeal in support of Malobrodsky TV presenter Vladimir Pozner, writers Vladimir Sorokin and Viktor Erofeev, conductor Teodor Currentzis and other cultural figures.
On Wednesday morning it became known that the investigation asked to send the director under house arrest.
The meeting is scheduled for noon. Employees and actors of the Gogol Center gathered near the building of the Basmanny District Court of Moscow.
Moscow 24 on Twitter writes that the director has already been taken to court.
Ekho Moskvy journalist Alena Vershinina writes that actress Victoria Isakova will act as a guarantor in court. TV presenter Leonid Parfenov and directors Vladimir Mirzoev and Boris Khlebnikov also came to support Serebrennikov.
Now there are more than two hundred people near the building of the Basmanny Court. All the sidewalks around are clogged with people, the correspondent of Mediazona reports. Photographers and cameramen crowd at the entrance. The wagons have arrived.
Near the hall, where the issue of the measure of restraint will be considered, there is also a support group of the director and journalists. Kirill Serebrennikov was brought into the hall.
You people run quickly! They have already left me on the roadway! Speed up the process! - the policeman at the court building speaks into the handset. - There is a serious situation already.
Due to the large congestion of people with phones near the courthouse, the Internet does not work well.
The journalist Alexander Budberg, the husband of Dmitry Medvedev's press secretary Natalya Timakova, came to court. The wife of businessman Oleg Deripaska, Polina, also came to support Serebrennikov.
The meeting begins after protocol shooting. Some of the journalists managed to get into the hall, the rest of the correspondents are watching the broadcast in the corridor.
The judge explains Serebrennikov his rights.
Serebrennikov's lawyer Dmitry Kharitonov says the defense has a large number of assignments, including from Natalia Solzhenitsyna, head of the Solzhenitsyn Foundation, singer Philip Kirkorov, TV presenter Andrei Malakhov, directors Fyodor Bondarchuk, Avdotya Smirnova, Alexander Popogrebsky and others.
The defender lists the names of the guarantors for a long time: actors Igor Vernik and Valery Garkalin, Evgeny Mironov, Konstantin Khabensky, Konstantin Raikin, Maxim Vitorgan, actresses Chulpan Khamatova, Victoria Isakova and Elizaveta Boyarskaya, director of the Bolshoi Theater Vladimir Urin, TV presenter Ivan Urgant, journalists Ksenia Sobchak, Nikolai Kartozia and Nikolai Svanidze, public figure Nyuta Federmesser and director of the Tretyakov Gallery Zelfira Tregulova.
He hands the judge a large bundle of bails.
After the judge has attached medical documents, the floor is taken by the investigator. According to the case file, acting as part of an organized group, Serebrennikov committed fraud. “Given that Serebrennikov is being charged with a serious crime, he could abscond from court,” he says.
The microphone in the hall beeps.
Serebrennikov may influence witnesses in a criminal case if he remains at large, the investigator adds. The director can also destroy evidence and avoid liability. He asks the court to place Serebrennikov under house arrest until October 19 with a ban on using the Internet and telephone.
Arguing in favor of house arrest, the IC officer mentions that the director has real estate abroad and a residence permit in Latvia.
The prosecutor supports the motion.
Serebrennikov objects to house arrest. “I would like to be released because I am not guilty. All the accusations seem to me incredibly absurd and impossible,” he says.
The director calmly explains that he always went to interrogations and cooperated with the investigation, answered all questions. All public money was spent on the project, he concludes.
Serebrennikov says that the Platform project was important for art.
“So I'm asking you to let me go, really. I won't run away anywhere, I can't hide anywhere,” he says. In early August, the director said that after the searches, the investigators took away his passport, although at that time he was a witness in the case.
Serebrennikov continues: “House arrest is an unreasonably harsh measure that will prevent me from working.”
Lawyer Kharitonov speaks: “House arrest is an unfounded petition. There is no reason to believe that he will abscond from the court. All that the investigation has is a document on the sale of an apartment and data that he was going to go abroad to stage a performance.
Meanwhile, the crowd on the street is chanting: “Kirill! Kirill! Kirill!"
“My client was not going to run anywhere. All his thoughts were directed to work,” continues the defender.
He recalls that the investigators interrupted the filming process several times. The lawyer insists that the investigation did not provide any evidence that Serebrennikov could escape somewhere.
On the street again they shout loudly: “Kirill! Bravo!" and loud applause. Hearing the street noise from the broadcast, the people in the corridor also screamed and clapped.
The lawyer says that yesterday Serebrennikov did not refuse to testify: after the arrest, the director was driven from St. Petersburg to Moscow for nine hours, by the evening he "did not have the strength to understand the charge." He assures that Serebrennikov will answer all the investigators' questions later.
Kharitonov says that the judge should give the director the opportunity to continue working.
The crowd at the entrance to the court began to chant "Freedom!" and "Kirill, come out!"
Defender Kharitonov continues his speech. He asks the court to release Serebrennikov on bail of 68 million rubles - this is the amount of damage that, according to the investigation, he caused.
“Now, of course, we don’t have that kind of money, but I think we will collect it as soon as possible,” he says.
Now the investigator has taken the floor, the correspondent of Mediazona reports, but he cannot be heard because of the incessant screams from the street.
Dear citizens! Let me turn to you! Your behavior is interfering with the work of the court! - says the policeman into a bullhorn.
Your work interferes with creativity! - they answer him from the crowd, applause is heard.
Please clear the roadway and do not interfere with the work of the court.
The applause fell silent due to the fact that someone asked to be quieter, otherwise the words of the lawyer could not be heard.
Now the judge lists the papers attached to the case - the statement of the investigators, the petitions of the lawyer, more than 30 guarantees. The term of the preliminary investigation was extended until October 19. She says who and when was interrogated.
Serebrennikov repeats again that he is an honest man and did not steal anything. The director believes that he was slandered.
Lawyer Kharitonov says that Irina Prokhorova is ready to give as a pledge any amount that the court will appoint.
Director Andrei Smirnov (Belorussky Station, Once Upon a Time There Was a Woman, played in the film Elena) enters the hall. He says that he has known Kirill for 20 years and knows him only from the good side.
The lawyer asks to tell why Smirnov acted as a guarantor. He replies that he knew Serebrennikov when he was still a "young talent." Now he has become a famous talented director. The case against him is exaggerated, Smirnov believes.
“I have no reason to doubt Kirill's civil honesty,” he adds.
There are no questions for him.
Now the director and screenwriter Alexei Mizgirev is performing. He speaks of Serebrennikov's innocence.
Lawyer Kharitonov again talks about bail and asks to hear the editor-in-chief of the New Literary Review and literary critic Irina Prokhorova.
Prokhorova enters the hall. She says that she has known the director for the last 15 years.
The lawyer asks the guarantor to tell about the relationship with Serebrennikov.
From my point of view, he is an outstanding director, and I would say that he brought our country to the forefront of the theatrical movement, says Prokhorova. According to her, his whole life is creativity.
In Stuttgart, all tickets for the fairy-tale opera "Hans and Gretel" by Kirill Serebrennikov have been sold. But it seems that after the accusations against the famous director of embezzlement of 68 million rubles, they are waiting for him in other places. For example, in the Basmanny Court of the capital, where on August 23 a preventive measure will be determined for him.
Judging by recent events, there is no much smoke without fire. The case of the "Seventh Studio" has been heard for several months and for a reason. Kirill Serebrennikov was detained in St. Petersburg, where he worked on the film "Summer", dedicated to Viktor Tsoi. The director was taken to Moscow under escort and, of course, not as a witness.
According to a release on the website of the Investigative Committee, the arrest was made "on suspicion of organizing the theft of at least 68 million rubles allocated in 2011-2014 for the implementation of the Platforma project. In the near future, they intend to charge him and choose a measure of restraint.
Scandalous news about the high-profile case of embezzlement of budgetary funds in the Seventh Studio founded by Serebrennikov began to arrive in May of this year. First, searches were carried out in the Gogol Center and in the director's apartment. Serebrennikov acted solely as a witness. According to law enforcement agencies, from 2011 to 2014, the leadership of the non-profit organization "Seventh Studio" used the funds received for other purposes. But everything that happened was a mystery to the public with seven seals. There were only exclamations of indignation about the martyrdom of the talented director. The wave of discontent over the arrest of those involved in the activity was gaining strength.
During the investigation, Serebrennikov was found to have an apartment in Germany worth 300,000 euros. The property was purchased on May 9, 2012, during the fertile period of financing the "Seventh Studio" by the Ministry of Culture. Schemes for the withdrawal of budgetary funds under fictitious contracts have been established. Alcohol, paper, gift sets were purchased in abundance under leftist contracts. In fact, no services were received. 160 shell companies were involved in laundering public money. The name of Kirill Serebrennikov in this performance sounded more often and louder than the others. However, in the shadow of the director's fame, several other names faded.
Yuri Itin, a graduate of the theater department of GITIS, former deputy rector for economic affairs, former director of the Seventh Studio, director of the Volkov theater in Yaroslavl. He was detained as a suspect as part of a criminal investigation. He is under house arrest. He refuses to testify, referring to Article 51 of the Constitution.
Former accountant of the "Seventh Studio" Nina Maslyaeva. At the time of her arrest, she worked as the chief accountant of the studio theater at the Nikitsky Gate. She testified in which she stated that Serebrennikov, the former general producer of the Seventh Studio, Alexei Malobrodsky, and Itin, with her help, "cashed out the funds" allocated for theatrical performances. The total damage amounted to 68 million rubles.
Moreover, according to Spark, a database of legal entities and their founders, over the past five years in the theater under the direction of Kirill Serebrennikov, a number of tenders worth about 5 million rubles have been won by legal entities whose founder is Kirill Serebrennikov. Being in the budgetary service, the director was engaged in commercial activities, including winning tenders from his own theater through IP Serebrennikov.
The moral of this fable is this: art is art, but you need to know the measure.
We explain what caused the close attention of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation to the artistic director of the Gogol Center Kirill Serebrennikov and a private company associated with him.
On the morning of May 23, employees of the Main Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee of Russia for Moscow came with searches to the apartment of the artistic director of the Gogol Center, Kirill Serebrennikov, as well as to the theater itself and the Winzavod center for contemporary art. According to investigators, in 2014 Serebrennikov took part in the theft of money from the Ministry of Culture allocated for the holding of the Platforma festival of contemporary art. But this is not the only episode.
According to the investigation, on February 1, 2014, the director of the Department for Support of Professional Art and Folk Art of the Ministry of Culture, Sofya Apfelbaum (now the director of the RAMT), entered into an agreement with the ANO Seventh Studio, co-owned and artistic director of which is Kirill Serebrennikov. The company undertook to carry out the Platform project on the territory of the Winzavod as part of the popularization of contemporary art. For this, the Ministry of Culture allocated 66.5 million rubles.
In turn, on February 10, Seventh Studio signed two contracts for the provision of paid services with Infostyle LLC for a total of 1.28 million rubles. The company was supposed to sew costumes and deal with the technical support of the events, as well as prepare a report on the use of state subsidies during their holding.
As the investigation managed to establish, in fact, the events specified in the contract were not carried out, although the money was transferred to the accounts of Infostyle. A few months later, in October 2014, the company ceased to exist. In October, Sofia Apfelbaum suddenly left her post, having worked in the Ministry of Culture for eight years. 
Searches within the framework of the initiated criminal case are just beginning - in total, the list contains 17 addresses, including the address of the ex-head of the department of the Ministry of Culture Sofya Apfelbaum, the current director of the Volkov Russian Drama Theater (Yaroslavl) Yuri Itin, who was previously the director of the Seventh Studio, as well as Anna Shalashova, who is now heading the company, and others.
Neither Serebrennikov nor Apfelbaum returned calls. The Moscow Department of Culture said they were not ready to comment on the searches in the Gogol Center under their jurisdiction. The Volkov Theater said that at the moment they are not being searched.
"Martyr" pays twice
ANO "Seventh Studio" could interest the investigators for another reason. The co-owner of the company, according to the Kartoteka database, is Kirill Serebrennikov, and the director is Anna Shalashova, who works at the Gogol Center as an assistant to the artistic director, that is, Serebrennikov.
As SPARK shows, since 2013, Gogol Center has regularly entered into small government contracts with Seventh Studio. At the same time, in 2014-2016, this company received state contracts only from the theater. 
According to the chairman of the National Anti-Corruption Committee Kirill Kabanov, in this case one can speak of at least a conflict of interest, because in fact it turns out that Serebrennikov gave the money of the state theater to his company.
It doesn't matter if the artistic director or any leading person does it. This is a cultural institution, not a private shop that can buy from anyone. Often, a conflict of interest is a sign not just of offenses, but of abuses in the use of budgetary funds. And here there can be already criminal consequences, - the expert noted.
In 2015, the Gogol Center held an auction in the form of a purchase from a single supplier, as a result of which the Seventh Studio received a contract for the joint production of the play Martyr worth 3.1 million rubles.
At the same time, earlier the theater (also in the form of a purchase from a single supplier) signed a contract for staging personally with Kirill Serebrennikov.
After the searches, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation announced the initiation of a criminal case into the theft of 200 million rubles allocated from the budget for the development of art.
According to investigators, from 2011 to 2014, unidentified persons from among the leadership of the autonomous non-profit organization "Seventh Studio" stole budget funds in the amount of about 200 million rubles allocated by the state for the development and promotion of art.
bail bond
Problems have haunted the Gogol Center for several years now. In April 2015, the head of the Moscow Department of Culture Alexander Kibovsky said that the Gogol Center was mired in debt. The theater's debt to various organizations at that time amounted to about 80 million rubles, and only the status of a cultural institution in Moscow saved it from liquidation.
Shortly before this, Anastasia Golub was appointed the new director of the theater, who had been conducting an anti-crisis campaign for five months. According to Serebrennikov, by August 2015, accounts payable were paid off, the theater's expenses were cut and ticket sales increased. But the theater was still unprofitable.
In October 2015, after Golub left, Serebrennikov became not only the artistic director, but also the director of the Gogol Center. After that, the head of the department of culture, Alexander Kibovsky, said that it was Kirill Serebrennikov who was responsible for all financial decisions. At the same time, the artistic director of the theater himself said that the Moscow Department of Culture approved him as the first deputy Alexei Kabeshev, who will be responsible for the economic situation of the theater.
In March 2016, Serebrennikov said that part of the debt money to the theater was reimbursed by the department of culture in the form of a subsidy. He did not elaborate on the exact amount.
0 August 22, 2017, 15:30Kirill Serebrennikov
On the night of August 22, the Investigative Committee of Russia, a 47-year-old director, is suspected of embezzling "at least 68 million rubles." The detention took place in St. Petersburg, where Serebrennikov was on the set of the film "Summer" about Viktor Tsoi. The director of the "Gogol Center" was taken to Moscow. So far, the Investigative Committee has not yet applied to the court with a request for arrest, but soon Kirill Serebrennikov should be charged. The case against him was initiated under the article on fraud on an especially large scale, which involves up to ten years in prison. As a preventive measure, Serebrennikov can be sent to a pre-trial detention center or put under house arrest.
Detention of Kirill Serebrennikov, one of the leading domestic film and theater directors and artistic director of the Gogol Center (now suspended from work),. Many domestic cultural figures, journalists, politicians and Serebrennikov's colleagues have already come out in his support. Also, the network began collecting signatures for the release of the director.
Kirill Serebrennikov
A few hours after Serebrennikov's arrest, a petition was created on Change.org in support of the director. Its authors believe that Serebrennikov is being persecuted for political reasons:
We demand an end to the criminal prosecution of Kirill Serebrennikov and his team for political reasons. Artists should have the right to freely express their opinions. It is guaranteed to them by the Constitution of our country. Law enforcement and investigation agencies should not turn into a club to intimidate those who disagree with the policy of the authorities. Stop the political persecution of Kirill Serebrennikov!
— written in the petition. So far, 1,500 people have signed the petition.
Alexei Kudrin, former Russian finance minister (Twitter)
The director’s arrest is clearly an excessive measure before the trial, especially after the President’s words about the excessive arrests of entrepreneurs
Liya Akhedzhakova, actress (for RIA Novosti)
Terrible news. This thread is greetings from Meyerhold. I do not understand what will happen next? Probably, we will crawl on our knees to the tsar-father. After the search, they took away his foreign passport, they are as cunning as the world has never seen, they have colossal experience: remember Meyerhold or Mandelstam, even Yesenin died in torture.
Evgeny Stychkin, actor (for Kommersant)
This defies any explanation. Everyone knows that there were performances. Why, to whom did Kirill cross the road, why was he chosen as such a demonstrative action? A man of art is subjected to almost unprecedented persecution in our modern history. Why can't the government protect him? We have the presumption of innocence, so let them first prove that something exists, let all opinions be heard, and then something will happen. You can’t take a person, tear him out of his life and force him to go through all this. This is very scary. If there is a task to impress us, then they certainly achieved this goal, this task is solved.
Yuri Grymov, director (for Kommersant)
Theater is a very complex mechanism. This is a big responsibility - salaries, production, storage, a lot of complex things. And, to be honest, I have never felt on myself, and, I think, few people have really felt the facts of some kind of political or creative pressure. If there are financial violations, then the investigation will deal with it. Why was Malobrodsky suddenly fired then? We knew that there were some violations. Therefore, there is a difficult situation here, which should be clarified by an absolutely honest investigation, moreover, a public one. Of course, a very large amount is presented - for the theater this is a lot of money. Therefore, I think that time will tell, and the investigation, I hope, with such publicity, will be as open and honest as possible.
Nikolai Svanidze, TV journalist, historian, chairman of the commission on civil rights of the Human Rights Council (for Interfax)
It is not clear why they treat him so brutally. Is he a rapist, a serial killer, a danger to society? Why should he be detained? He is an absolutely law-abiding citizen, not prone to either escape or violence. Why is it necessary to limit the personal freedom of a citizen?
Pavel Lungin, director (for "Echo of Moscow")
It seems to me that we see once again that our law enforcement agencies do not back up, they cannot show flexibility. Of course, there is no need for an arrest. Cyril does not leave anywhere, he works. He is here, he goes to all interrogations, writes explanations. It seems to me that this is excessive cruelty, some kind of vindictive cruelty.
Nikolai Kartozia, CEO of the Friday TV channel (Facebook)
You may consider me a naive fool, but I do not believe that my friend Kirill Serebrennikov is a swindler. I forbid myself even to think so. And you, if you are my friends and friends of Kirill, please do not make assumptions. After all, everything that we have been told so far has not been proven, semi-proven. Where are the facts? Kirill is an amazing person and a huge talented soul. Whatever happens in the denouement... Uncle Kirill, I am your friend and I won't deny it. There will probably be a big cleaning of the friend tape today. Well, for the better. People like to "assume" it's part of the human in us. But there are assumptions that blacken the soul and turn you into a toxic f ****. This will not be in my feed.
Pavel Bardin, director (Facebook)
The detention of Serebrennikov is yet another victory for the culture of violence over culture.
Nikita Kukushkin, actor of the Gogol Center
Friends! Stupid and unhappy people really work there. Mostly people are not talented, or people who have lost their talent. They are weak. There is no truth behind them. Those need to be helped. So it makes sense for them to worry. They are like bees with a sting in the ass. And we - enough to grieve! Flip the game.
Mikhail Idov, screenwriter, journalist (for the Dozhd channel)
I know exactly the same thing as you. I found out about what was happening about 20 minutes ago. All I can say is that two days ago my wife Lilya and I, as co-authors of the script for the film "Summer", were on the set of this film with Kirill Semenovich in St. Petersburg. Kirill was in a great mood, the work was going on, the work will continue, I'm sure. That's actually all. And so we are in great shock, of course.
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