Former Moscow culture minister notorious for purging independent, anti-war figures is jailed on corruption charges

On Wednesday, a judge jailed former Moscow Culture Minister Alexander Kibovsky on charges of bribery and fraud after police arrested the conservative official for allegedly helping businesses win city contracts in exchange for more than 100 million rubles (about $1.1 million) in kickbacks. Kibovsky currently serves as an adviser to the Moscow Mayor’s Office on issues of cultural cooperation with the four most recently annexed regions of Ukraine. He maintains his innocence, claims he was planning to enlist in the military to fight in Ukraine, and says he suffered police brutality and intimidation in December 2023 when police previously detained him and other suspects in the case. Kibovsky managed the capital’s Culture Department from 2015 until 2023, overseeing the gradual ouster of liberal and independent officials while also administering several upgrades to libraries, parks, and other public spaces.

In an article for Meduza, Anton Khitrov wrote that Kibovsky is best remembered for purging his office twice: once after beginning the job, when he dismissed many of the people hired under his predecessor, and again after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, when he replaced figures who criticized the war. What follows is a summary of Khitrov’s story.

Before Alexander Kibovsky, Moscow’s Culture Ministry belonged to Sergey Kapkov, who became something of a darling for Russia’s urbanists and liberal media by hiring various luminaries to top positions at the city’s parks, theaters, and so on. Journalists viewed Kapkov’s appointment as a concession to the protesters who marched against fraudulent elections in 2011 and 2012. 

Before and during Kapkov’s tenure, Kibovsky served in the Medvedev administration and then in Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin’s cabinet, both roles devoted to protecting local cultural heritage (overseeing the restoration of landmarks, recreation centers, and so on). Soon after he took over for Kapkov, Kibovsky made a speech to the Moscow City Duma where he promised stricter discipline and was receptive to some council members’ complaints that the capital’s cultural institutions needed more “patriotic” and “spiritual” leaders. Over the next year, he gradually replaced prominent Kapkov appointees. In 2022, after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Kibovsky launched another round of dismissals, this time targeting cultural figures suspected of disloyalty to the state. 

He also completed several popular projects, including Zaryadye Park outside Red Square, the GES-2 cultural venue on the Bolotnaya Embankment, and digitization upgrades to the city’s libraries (though some who worked in the library system then, like feminist activist Daria Serenko, say that censorship and a conservative agenda accompanied these improvements).