Former leaders of Kirill Serebrennikov's Seventh Studio detained

In the case of embezzlement of budget funds, in which searches were carried out at the Gogol Center and director Kirill Serebrennikov on May 23, the former general director and chief accountant of the theater company Seventh Studio, Yuri Itin and Nina Maslyaeva, were detained. This was reported by the representative of the Moscow department of the RF IC, Yulia Ivanova.

They are suspected of fraud on an especially large scale.

Currently, Yuri Itin works as the director of the Yaroslavl Theater named after Fyodor Volkov. Nina Maslyaeva is listed on the website of the theater “At the Nikitsky Gate” as the chief accountant.

Earlier, the Investigative Committee reported that the searches took place “at a number of other addresses in various constituent entities of the Russian Federation.” The Fyodor Volkov Theater in Yaroslavl told Meduza that no searches were carried out; Meduza was unable to contact Yuri Itin on May 23.

• On May 23, it became known that the artistic director of the Gogol Center, Kirill Serebrennikov, became a defendant in a case of theft of budget funds allocated in 2011–2014 “for the development and popularization of art” in the Russian Federation to the organization “Seventh Studio,” which he headed. The director is involved in the case as a witness.
• The Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation stated that 216.6 million rubles were allocated to the Seventh Studio; The Investigative Committee's report said that 200 million were stolen. The search warrant at the Gogol Center, which Meduza reviewed, refers to 66.5 million rubles.
• On May 23, searches were carried out at the Gogol Center, at Kirill Serebrennikov, as well as at the former head of the department of state support of art of the Ministry of Culture, Sofia Apfelbaum, who now holds the post of director of RAMT. They were both interrogated by the Investigative Committee.