Minister of Culture defends conductor

Minister of Culture Alexander Avdeev said that the artistic director of the Mariinsky Theater Valery Gergiev has nothing to do with the financial irregularities discovered during the construction of the second stage of the Mariinsky Theater, which were announced by the Accounts Chamber.

Yesterday, the auditor of the Accounts Chamber, Sergei Agaptsov, announced that following an audit of the use of federal budget funds during the construction of the second stage of the State Mariinsky Theater, violations amounting to more than 290 million rubles were identified ( see Kommersant on March 21 ). The Accounts Chamber did not specify which violations were identified; its report has not yet been published in full.

However, the Minister of Culture Alexander Avdeev considered it necessary to stand up for the honor of the artistic director of the theater Valery Gergiev, who demonstrated the deepest interest in the construction of a new stage at all stages: the artistic director personally chose the project of the Canadian bureau Diamond & Schmitt Architects, which replaced the project of the Frenchman Dominique Perrault, who won the international competition Let us recall that in 2002, when the Russian government decided to build a new theater for Valery Gergiev, its cost was estimated at 3.8 billion rubles. By 2012, the budget reached 22 billion, of which more than 16 billion had already been spent.

The Minister of Culture explained to RIA Novosti that “Valery Gergiev has nothing to do with spending money on the construction of the Mariinsky-2, he is simply the artistic director,” and called for taking care of the great maestro. The minister refused to make more extensive comments, saying that he needed to familiarize himself with the documents of the Accounts Chamber. Auditor Sergei Agaptsov confirmed that Valery Gergiev is not connected with the construction. “What does Gergiev have to do with it? Questions have been raised to those who spent the funds,” he explained and added that “all the facts set out in the report will go to law enforcement agencies.”

Rita Rusakova

Valery Gergiev is not involved in the shortage