Police raid prominent Moscow contemporary theatre

This morning police raided the Gogol Centre, a leading Moscow contemporary theatre known for its liberal and non-conformist character, as part of an investigation into alleged corruption.

According to a report by Russian tabloid Life News, police also conducted raids at the home of the theatre’s artistic director, Kirill Serebrennikov, along with 15 other addresses in a corruption investigation involving an alleged sum of 1.2 million rubles (approx. $21,300).

“Nobody has been detained yet, interrogations and other investigative measures will be conducted,” an unnamed police source told Russia’s TASS news agency, noting that the investigation is connected with embezzlement of funds.

TASS also reports that Alexander Kibovsky, the head of Moscow’s Department of Culture, recently claimed that Gogol Centre currently owes around 80 million rubles (approx. $1.24 million) in debts to various organisations. It is not yet known whether today’s raids have any connection to these debts.

Source: TASS (in Russian)