The high-profile case against prominent theater director Kirill Serebrennikov, who is accused of embezzling state funds, is not politically motivated, the Kremlin spokesman told reporters on a conference call Wednesday.
“In this case, there shouldn’t be empty words about politicisation, some form of censorship or another,” Dmitry Peskov was cited as saying by the Interfax news agency, “such theories are completely out of place and don’t have any bearing on purely financial issues.”
Serebrennikov was placed under house arrest last week after being detained and charged with embezzling 68 million rubles ($1.1 million) in government subsidies as part of a theater project connected to Moscow’s Gogol Center.
Russia’s Culture Minister has previously denied widespread claims that Serebrennikov’s case is politically motivated.
Peskov also said he did not have information regarding reports this week that the Federal Security Services’ anti-extremism department was involved in the case.
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