OWNER VOWS TO PUSH FOR VIGOROUS INVESTIGATION OF

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MOSCOW 012265

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/RUS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/03/2016
TAGS: PHUM PGOV KDEM SCUL RS
SUBJECT: OWNER VOWS TO PUSH FOR VIGOROUS INVESTIGATION OF
GALLERY RANSACKING


Classified By: Ambassador William J. Burns: 1.4 (b, d).

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Summary
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1. (C) A resolute Marat Gelman told us October 31 that he
intended to use his remaining official contacts to energize a
languishing criminal investigation of the October 21 attack
on his Moscow Gelman Art Gallery. Law enforcement officials
had "done nothing" since ten men smashed twenty paintings and
beat up Gelman in an attack that could have been provoked by
the nationality of the artist being exhibited --Georgian-- or
by the gallery's history of displaying work offensive to the
sensibilities of nationalists. We will continue to raise our
concerns about continued lack of movement of the
investigation with appropriate GOR officials. End summary.

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What Happened
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2. (U) As the Moscow media have reported, on October 21 a
group of men stormed the central Moscow Guelman Art Gallery,
destroying paintings, computer equipment, and beating the
gallery's owner Marat Gelman. Observers at the time
suggested that ultranationalists may have been behind the
attack. They noted that:

-- it came one day after artworks from the Gelman Gallery
lampooning President Putin were confiscated at Sheremetevo
airport;

-- on display at a time when anti-Georgian passions in Moscow
were being stoked, were the works of Georgian artist
Aleksandr Dzhikia;

-- Gelman's gallery, which regularly exhibits irreverent art,
had been a source of controversy, and similar depredations,
in the past.


3. (C) Gelman, who was briefly hospitalized after the event,
told us October 31 that he had no proof that the attackers
were ultranationalists. The ten men who invaded his gallery
wore heavy boots and ski caps, and were "methodical, as if
they were just doing a day's work." They ordered Gelman's
two female assistants to face the wall, beat Gelman,
destroyed his computer (which was equipped with a webcam that
could have recorded the incident),and savaged twenty
paintings before leaving.


4. (C) Gelman discovered after ending an enforced period of
bed rest that the criminal investigation opened on the day of
the incident "had gone nowhere." He planned to use what
connections to the government he retains in an effort to
energize law enforcement authorities, but was not hopeful.

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Possible Motives
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5. (C) Gelman did not know who was behind the attack. "The
goal," he said, "was to terrorize by demonstrating that
perpetrators of such acts can act with impunity." Gelman
suggested two possible hypotheses for the attack:

-- it was the work of rank-and-file nationalists, perhaps
off-duty police officers or members of the military, who were
riding the wave of anti-Georgian feeling then current in
Moscow;

-- behind the sacking was someone in power unhappy with other
gallery-sponsored pictures, then en route to London, that
lampooned President Putin, and had been confiscated at
Sheremetevo airport.


6. (C) Gelman did not ascribe the attack to his place on the
"enemies" list making the rounds here --recently assassinated
journalist Anna Politkovskaya was on that list-- nor was he
certain that the Georgian nationality of the artist being
exhibited was the cause. The recent history of his gallery
notwithstanding, Gelman remained optimistic that contemporary
Russian art would triumph over "the forces of darkness,"
although he conceded that those dark forces were currently in
the ascendancy. In a separate conversation, artist Dmitriy
Gutov, a well-known contemporary of Gelman's, was less
sanguine. Culture in Russia is "hanging by thread," he said.
He mentioned last year's attack on the Sakharov Center as
another example of creeping intolerance in Russia.

MOSCOW 00012265 002 OF 002



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About Gelman and His Gallery
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7. (U) Gelman is no stranger to Russian political life. He
has worked as a consultant to the Kremlin and, in 1995
co-founded with Gleb Pavlovskiy the pro-Kremlin Foundation
for Effective Politics. Gelman as well figured in the
creation of the Rodina political party (which merged with the
Russian Party of Life and Russian Party of Pensioners on
October 28) and was an adviser to Kremlin favorite Viktor
Yanukovich in the 2004 Ukrainian presidential elections.


8. (U) The Gelman Gallery was founded in 1990 and has
frequently exhibited irreverent art. In 2005, the gallery
staged an alternative Moscow Biennale, exhibiting
controversial works about Putin, Chechnya, and Russian
Orthodoxy not included in the official show. In February
2003, the Gelman Gallery exhibition "Obscene Paintings" was
ransacked by two persons disturbed by its content.

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Comment
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9. (C) It is indeed difficult to pinpoint the exact motive
for the October 21 attack. Media accounts of the Sheremetevo
airport confiscation the day before the rampage may have
triggered action by one or another group, or the gallery may
have been the victim of a then cresting wave of anti-Georgian
sentiment. On the margins of a recent Tretyakov Krimskiy Val
Musuem press conference inaugurating an exhibition
co-sponsored by the Gelman Foundation, some of the regional
museum and gallery owners present worried about creeping
public impatience with epatage art, but they seemed to agree
with Gelman that perseverance, not retreat, was the only
course of action. We will continue to raise our concerns
about this case with GOR officials.
BURNS