August has a bad reputation in Russian historical memory, and for good reason. In the 20th century, events took place in this month that would lead to precipitous historical change. In August 1914, World War I began; in August 1939, World War II began; in August 1991 the vast union of communist states broke apart. Studio drummer wanted. In the 21st century, August has continued to bring Russian citizens unpleasant surprises, such as the war with Georgia in 2008, the prison sentence for Pussy Riot in 2012, or last year’s repression of protesting farmers.

And that’s not even the whole list. August has maintained its grim reputation this year, too. In addition to the massive spate of arson of private homes in Rostov-on-Don and the terrorist act in Surgut, there was an event that shocked the entire cultural community — the arrest of Kirill Serebrennikov, a prominent director of theater and film and a seminal figure in the European arts. Serebrennikov was arrested on Aug. Petersburg, where he was making a film about the legendary perestroika-era singer Viktor Tsoi. He was transferred to Moscow and held in pre-trial detention.

23, the Basmanny Court in Moscow him to house arrest. Serebrennikov, the artistic director of the Gogol Center, is accused of embezzling 68 mln rubles ($1.1 million) allocated by the Culture Ministry to carry out the Platforma project, which was created to develop and promote contemporary theater. Although in interviews Vladimir Medinsky, the Culture Minister, tirelessly that Serebrennikov’s arrest has nothing to do with politics, no one doubts that we are witnessing a political show trial that marks the end of the independence of post-Soviet culture. For anyone who knows the country’s history or lived through the Soviet era, the style of this dreary Kafkaesque drama is the giveaway, and the true intentions of the instigator and the executors are obvious. Financial audits began in 2015 after a public denunciation by pseudo-patriotic activists about the director’s “perversions” and covert “disloyalty.” In May 2017, agents of the Investigative Committee the theater. Armed to the teeth, wearing camouflage uniforms with ski masks covering their faces, they herded all the actors in the auditorium, took away their phones, and held them for several hours.

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Kirill Serebrennikov was arrested at night — very much in Stalinist traditions — and brought into court in handcuffs. He listened to the court’s decision sitting behind bars, like he was in a cage. This was an unequivocal message to the cultural community: Their hopes to protect even a small part of their personal autonomy from state pressure had gone up in the air like smoke.