calls in Moscow
The Russian Interior Ministry has added gallery owner Marat Gelman, known in Russia as a foreign agent, to its wanted list. The notice appeared in December and notes a basis for the search as being pursued under the Criminal Code, though it does not specify the exact article. Authorities also state that Gelman holds Israeli citizenship.
The August 2020 search of Gelman’s Moscow apartment occurred in connection with the case involving Yulia Ilyinskaya, a Russian national who found a job at polling stations in Israel during the vote on constitutional amendments in Russia. The commission system, described as Stop Double, utilized internal passport data, and Russians abroad cast ballots using their passports. Ilyinskaya reportedly managed to collect one ballot remotely and two more at embassies and consulates in Israel, in Tel Aviv and Haifa respectively.
A court ruling on the search stated that Ilyinskaya resided with Gelman, described as the father of her child, at the apartment in Ostozhenka. After the searches, Gelman published a post denying the claim on social media. In remarks given later, Gelman indicated that he lived with a legal partner and three children in Montenegro, while a court had asserted his cohabitation with Ilyinskaya at Ostozhenka. In an interview with a major business daily, he claimed that security forces did not find any evidence and left. He later confirmed in another interview that he and Ilyinskaya share a child, but emphasized that they have not lived together for a long time and that she had never resided at that apartment.
On August 27, the Moscow Cheryomushkinsky Court issued an arrest in absentia for Ilyinskaya. The Russian Ambassador to Israel indicated that she had been listed on Interpol’s wanted list. In the September 2021 elections, Ilyinskaya again faced accusations of manipulating the process by attempting to obtain multiple ballots, both physical and electronic.
Immigration and foreign agency
In 2001 Gelman worked as part of a team advising Ukrainian politician and businessman Viktor Medvedchuk. In 2004 he joined Viktor Yanukovych’s headquarters ahead of the presidential campaign.
From 2002 to 2004 Gelman served as Deputy Director General at Channel One, under Konstantin Ernst. He founded the PERMM Museum in 2009 and has curated numerous exhibition projects. The gallerist faced criticism over use of public funds and a religious theme in some works. A bishop of Stavropol argued that Gelman’s work did not reflect genuine culture and could inflame religious and ethnic tensions. In June 2013 Gelman left the gallery amid disputes, calling the move censorship.
Gelman relocated to Montenegro in 2014 and subsequently opened the Dukley European Art Community art residence in Kotor in 2015. At the end of the prior year he was added to the foreign media register along with other individuals labeled foreign agents in Russia. In February an administrative protocol was issued against the gallery owner for failing to tag a post as from a foreign agent, resulting in a fine under the Code of Administrative Offenses. The penalties were issued under Part 1 of Article 19.34.1 of the code.