Curators from the FSB. How Russian artists were interrogated and searched in the case of Peter Verzilov about Gosizmen

On March 12, Russia has passed the largest searches in recent years - three dozen searches in at least seven cities. This time, FSB officers came to contemporary artists, laureates of famous awards, and leaders of large cultural institutions. The occasion was the criminal case of the Stateizer, instituted against the Pussy Riot participant and the former publisher of the Mediazone, Peter Verzilov. Many of the interrogated are not even familiar with him - and this gives an occasion to believe that the matter itself was only an excuse to intimidate and squeeze out the figures of contemporary art from the country.

Early on the morning of March 12, the FSB officers began to burst into the St. Petersburg apartment of the artist and activist Katrin Nenasheva and her friend Natasha Chetverio. The girls decided that they would let the employees only after the arrival of the lawyer - then the security forces threatened to drill the door for them.

Why did the FSB come to the artist at first it was unclear: Nenashev was detained many times both during the shares and preventively before the holidays.

A few hours later, human rights activists from the “Network Freedoms” said that the searches of artists and activists are held in almost a dozen Russian cities in connection with the case of Gosizmen (Article 275 of the Criminal Code), which was excited against a member of the Pussy Riot group and former publisher of Mediazone Peter Verzilov.

Back in October last year, Verzilov said in an interview with Yuri Dudu that he initially went to Ukraine as a documentaryist, but then remained at the front “like a military man”.

"Do you know Peter Verzilov?" Interrogations of artists

“[Employee] first asked if I knew Verzilov, I did not answer. He began to fill something, then he began to ask if I was in organizations, and began to list everything in the world: religious, terrorist, nationalist-all in a row, without specifying specific. I did not answer anything, and then they told me that I put my tongue in the ass, ” - so in a conversation with the Mediazona, one of the detainees in Moscow, who asked for anonymity, recalls yesterday's interrogation.

According to Galerist Marat Gelman, on the eve of the FSB operatives came with searches to at least 30 artists and activists in seven cities of Russia; He specified that not all of them agreed to the publication of names. “Mediazone” is known about 26 searches: seven in Moscow (including the mother of Elena Verzilov), 11 in St. Petersburg, two in Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg and Perm, and one more in Samara and Ulyanovsk.

At the same time, according to many detainees, they are not even familiar with Verzilov. “I am a left -handed man and I know about Verzilov no more than an ordinary user of the Internet,” Christina Bubenttsova, activist of the St. Petersburg Party of the Dead, told Rotunde. She was taken for interrogation with her husband.

It was among at least 12 people who, after interrogation, received the status of witnesses in the case, they took away the non -disclosure subscription. Among them are Nizhny Novgorod, Artem Filatov, who was recognized as an artist of 2023 at the Cosmoscow fair.

Kristina Gorlanova, the former director of the Ural branch of the Pushkin Museum, told the OVD-info that after the search she became a witness "in the criminal case of the" artist ", whom she did not even know and did not hear anything about him: they asked not to reveal the name." The Petersburg artist Alexander Kachko told about the same “paper”.

It was in St. Petersburg that the most large-scale searches were held: in addition to Nenasheva, Bubentsova and Kachko, the security forces also came to the participants of the Yav art group, which gained popularity thanks to anti-war street art , artists Sasha Blot and Vladlena Milkina, a photographer, who filmed the “Party of the Dead”, and to others.

The St. Petersburg artist, who asked for anonymity, says that one case allowed the security forces to connect him with the Yav art group. “Those who stayed are now pulling out of the bed for any reason. Now Verzilov - I once heard his surname in an interview, ”he recalls. Despite this, the artist also witnessed Verzilov’s case, during the interrogation he was asked how he relates to “Svo”, whether he was familiar with Verzilov and whether he participated in rallies.

In Moscow, the security forces took for interrogation the mother of Peter Verzilov and the Pussy Riot participants remaining in Russia, including Olga Kuracheva and Olga Pakhtusova. In 2018, they together in Verzilov and Nikul Nikulshina held the action “The policeman enters the game”, running out onto the field during the final match of the World Cup.

In Moscow, they also came to the studio of the artist and the famous actionist Anatoly Osmolovsky. On March 12, after a long search, he seized several computers and another equipment, and then taken away for interrogation. Investigators asked the artist about Verzilov, the Forum of Russian Culture "Slovonovo" and the Institute "Base" founded by Osmolovsky.

In Samara, the search was held at the address of the artist Denis Mustafin, where his mother now lives; He himself has been in France since 2022, where he achieves political asylum, participates in pickets and issues Zin with a selection of anti -war work.

“They sat at the computer for a long time and asked different questions stupid, found files that I might have once sent to her or loaded them, she even forgot about them. They asked: "But he is on Red Square with a white flag - what is it?" “I don't know,” Mom says. “The white flag means protest,” they say, ”Mustafin tells Mediazone.

He recalls that his mother reinstalled telegram, and on the computer a correspondence with his son was shown in only three days - this alerted the security forces.

As far as the artist knows, the FSB officers did not ask his mother about Verzilov. A few hours later they left with the seized laptop, promising to return it later.

Perm searched the director of the Perm Museum of Contemporary Art of Permm Nail Allahverdieva. According to the results of all interrogations, no one was detained, however, according to Mediazons, at least two people left Russia, several more people asked to remove their names from publications about searches.

"Unwanted actions are excluded." Who was searched and interrogated by the FSB officers

Kristina Gorlanova

The curator, the ex-head of the Ural branch of the Pushkin Museum, dismissed in the summer of 2023-according to the version of the pro-government URA.ru , due to "liberal sentiments". In the fall, Gorlanova became the head of the Proksa art response, which is financed by the Fund of the United Metallurgical Company.

Anatoly Osmolovsky

One of the most famous Russian acting artists, who began artistic activities in the late 1980s. In 1991, he and other participants in the E.T.I. movement On Red Square, the word "dick" was depicted by bodies. In addition to personal artistic activity, Osmolovsky is engaged in curators and teaching. He signed a letter in support of the defendants in Penza.

Katrin Nenasheva

Nenasheva-the artist-campaign from Krasnodar, lives and works in St. Petersburg. In 2018, she accused the Kremlin and the FSB of canceling her exhibition “Cargo 300”, which was devoted to people who survived torture and was supposed to open in a state gallery on a hodgepodge. Initially, the guide of the gallery suffered the opening of the exhibition allegedly due to the breakthrough of the pipe, but soon Nenasheva told the Russian BBC service that the gallery had no technical problems. “They called the Department of Culture to the Solyanka and said that they received a call from the FSB and from the presidential administration that the exhibition could not be opened,” she said .

The day before the planned opening of the exhibition, Nenasheva arranged an action in Moscow: she spent the whole day in a cage on Myasnitskaya Street near the FSB building. A leaflet with the inscription “Cargo 300” and memories of torture was attached to the cage when detained in a self -proclaimed DPR, where Nenasheva went in 2018 - as the artist wrote on Facebook, part of her relatives from Gorlovka.

Natasha Chetvero

Anarchist and musician Natasha Chetvero moved to St. Petersburg from Moscow in the summer of 2022, after the police and the FSB began to be pursued . A few months before, in February 2022, the four were detained at an anti -war action in Moscow, after which she spent 15 days in the Sakharovo special receiver. After that, the police, according to the girl, began to interview her neighbors at the place of registration. In Moscow, Chetvero worked in the project “Only themselves”, which supports political prisoners, and gave concerts in their support.

Olga Kuracheva

The artist and activist participated in various protests in Moscow. In 2018, together with other members of the Pussy Riot group, she ran out in a police uniform on a football field during the final of the World Cup in Moscow. Kuracheva was then appointed 15 days of arrest. She also worked for Radio Liberty, in the Russian service “BBC” and “Memorial”.

Olga Pakhtusova

Activist Pussy Riot . In 2018, she, along with Peter Verzilov, Nikul Nikulshina and Olga Kuracheva, ran out to the field during the final of the World Cup in Moscow.

Rita Flores

Pussy Riot participant, who was repeatedly subjected to administrative arrests in Moscow before the war. During the detention in March 2022 in Minsk, the security forces forced her to record a video in support of Alexander Lukashenko, and in December of the same year she was searched for a search of “fakes” against Peter Verzilov.

Sasha Blot

Street art artist from Penza, now lives in St. Petersburg. “He left all his words where they are banned,” he signed Graffiti with the image of a man with his mouth sewn with a Kobuleti geotag in May 2023. Last fall, Sasha, judging by Instagram, returned to Petersburg, where he continued to engage in street art: one of his last works is called “Lost Memory”.

Kristina Bubenstsova

Activist of the Party of the Dead. This is the St. Petersburg art project of the Rodina group, created in 2017. Fame was brought to the project by shares in tombs and masks in the form of skeletons. Participants in the "Party of the Dead" were repeatedly detained at rallies. After the start of a full -scale invasion of Ukraine, activists held anti -war promotions: for example, a performance in a cemetery during Easter with posters “Stop fighting. Peaceful inhabitants will not be resurrected ”and“ Christ is risen. But the SLI is not. ”

In September 2022, several activists related to the art project were searches in the case of insulting the feelings of believers-it was connected precisely with the action in the cemetery. Then the security forces came to Kristina Bubenstsova. She took place in the case of a witness. She has the same status in the case of the Stateizer against Peter Verzilov.

Alexander Kachko

“After the events in Buch, I felt despair, helplessness, unsafe and suffocation, and as if the darkness was gathering around,” wrote Alexander Kachko, an architect from St. Petersburg on her Instagram. According to her, in February 2023 she was detained by the police in St. Petersburg, after which she had to change her place of residence.

“In the summer of 2023, I expressed my horror and despair in this project,” Kachko presented my Russian Antiutopia project “Russia 2022. City of the future.” According to her, this is an “architectural project of a typical village for mass resettlement of citizens” with several dozens of rapidly vested residential buildings. On the layout, these buildings are somewhat reminiscent of the huts of concentration camps-they are all divided into houses for loners and for families, and the territory of the “city of the future” separates the butacher's wall from the rest of the world, behind which there is a fake rain. “Residents obey a certain daily routine, unwanted actions are excluded,” the project describes. -Dreams of totalitarian dictators-to grow a generation that will not know that there is still some kind of life behind the wall. This is the idea of ​​my utopian project. But this sarcophagus is a theatrical decoration, it is made of light designs and fake pictures. ”

Vladlena Milkina

Street artist and illustrator from St. Petersburg, known by the pseudonyms "Vlada Vandal" and Mvpicture .

Milkina creates recognizable graffiti in the form of elongated men who, in some works, develop in words, for example, “freedom”, “peace”, “love”. Another work of the artist is an art object “About people who are scared” on Krasnogvardeiskaya Square in St. Petersburg. In June last year, he was painted over utility staff. In addition, Milkina created a project on the female street art Femstreet , which released the book of the same name, a film about the Graffitite WAKS and organized several exhibitions “Female Street”.

Alexander Danilov

Photographer-documentary from St. Petersburg. Danilov said that on March 12, the FSB officers came to work. He was taken away for interrogation, which passed without a lawyer. “I don’t know Verzilov, they liked the pictures from my Instagram. The employees said that I was talented, ” Sota quoted his words.

Danilov also shot protest rallies in St. Petersburg and photographed the “Party of the Dead” shares.

Ilya brains

One of the most famous Ural Street art artists, organizer of the Cart-Blanche street art festival. Work "Attention, search!" In Moscow and the “Document” in Blagoveshchensk, they ironically have been ironic; In another work, he portrayed a hired employee of the street art department.

Nadezhda Opalinskaya

The St. Petersburg artist, who became a person involved in several criminal cases, the latter -due to the work of the Yavle group, the inscription on the wall explaining what Rashka is.

Denis Mustafin

A well -known shareholder who arranged performances in support of the Political Zecks. In June 2022, he was detained and arrested 15 days after the anonymous artists hung opposite the building of the Ministry of Defense Tricolor with the inscription "Today is not my day."

Anastasia Mikhailova

The artist and ally of Pavel Krisevich, she was subjected to administrative arrest for the street exhibition about repressions held in St. Petersburg. Krisevich himself was sentenced to five years for another action.

Artem Filatov

The creator and head of the Nizhny Novgorod Studio "Tikhaya", he founded this space for artists in 2015. In 2023, Filatov was recognized as the COSMOSCOW support Fund “The Artist of the Year”. One of his most famous works is the "Garden named after." In the Nizhny Novgorod crematorium - simultaneously installation and a memorial complex, on the territory of which visitors can plant a plant in memory of a deceased person.

Andrey Olenev

The resident of the Tikhaya Art Studio, in the mid-2010s, painted the facades of old wooden houses in the historical center of Nizhny Novgorod. He works in different techniques, creates installations, conducts lectures in different cities of Russia.

Nail Allahverdieva

Allahverdieva is the director of the Perm Museum of Contemporary Art, the only regional museum of contemporary art in Russia. At the beginning of 2024, the Perm Museum got into the short list of the Art Newspaper Russia Prize in the Museum of the Year nomination.

Egor Holov

One of the most famous artists of Ulyanovsk, in particular, he arranged actions in support of protests in Belarus in 2020. His work of the RAEN, on which Vladimir Lenin is depicted in the image of a gopnik, became popular. Holts himself characterizes his work as an image of “the most uncomfortable Russia”.

Art group "Yav"

The St. Petersburg art group “Yav” was founded in 2015 by Anastasia Vladychkin and Alexander Voronin. “Yav” has always been about the most part about politics since 2015. Because there is a clear understanding that politics = everyday life. You cannot be out of politics. The cost of bread/travel/housing and communal services, relations in the family/school/at work - everything is subject to political influence. It is probably possible to be out of politics only in the next world, and that is unlikely, ” said Vladychkina.

The works of "Yavi" appear on various buildings in St. Petersburg - and they are very quickly painted over public utilities. In August 2022, the artists were detained when they painted on the fence the inscription "Gulag" in the form of a Google logo.

Last year, artists created an anti -war installation on the arch of the former House of Culture. Work called Russian Cyberpunk was the silhouettes of three men, in whom white prostheses painted with blue floral ornaments for Gzhel painting were attached at the place of limbs. She was also quickly painted over.

"Verzilov’s case is a formal occasion." Marat Gelman about searches

The searches can be associated with the upcoming presidential elections and the “Half AGAs Against Putin” campaign, said Galerist Marat Gelman. Эту акцию анонсировали сторонники убитого Алексея Навального, они призывают прийти на выборы президента 17 марта ровно в 12:00 и проголосовать против Владимира Путина или испортить бюллетени.

«Она, конечно, насторожила, потому что устроена по типу художественной акции: давайте не сговариваясь придем в такое-то время, мы ничего не нарушаем. Это в целом достаточно артистичная идея, и поэтому они подумали, что в рамках этого многие художники захотят сделать свои высказывания. Дело Верзилова — это формальный повод, многие ни разу не встречались с Петей, а даже те, кто встречались — что они могут сказать? Он находится в Украине», — рассуждает Гельман.

Вместе с тем, считает Гельман, причина может быть и в несогласии некоторых художников с действиями российских властей: «Сначала их волновали те художники и артисты, которые высказывали свою позицию антивоенную и антипутинскую, сейчас они обратили внимание на тех художников, чье искусство говорит об их позиции: акционисты, уличные художники, а со временем, я думаю, все [попадут во внимание силовиков]».

«Что касается того, существует ли какой-то инсайдер, который помогает составлять эти списки: пока, из того, что я знаю, это все-таки [подверглись обыскам] те художники, которые через медиа, которых можно вычислить с помощью гугла, — отмечает Гельман. — Там, Наиля Аллахвердиева, которая получила недавно истеблишментскую премию».

Галерист говорит, что ему известно о четырех «художниках старшего поколения», которые решили, что, раз они «попали в предвыборный список» и у них провели обыски, то лучшей стратегией будет об этом ничего не говорить. «Что поделаешь, психология», — заключает он.

Editor: Maria Klimova