Assailants Destroy Moscow Art Exhibit
October 22, 2006
Marat Gelman being interviewed by RFE/RL in Moscow on July 25 (RFE/RL)
The works destroyed at the Marat Gelman Gallery on October 21 included an exhibit by ethnic-Georgian artist Aleksander Dzikhia.
Gallery staff said a group of young men in masks carried out the ransacking, tearing artworks off the walls and smashing them, and also destroying computers, phones, and other equipment, before leaving.
The motive for the attack was not immediately known.
Gallery owner Marat Gelman is well-known Russian political consultant with close ties to the Kremlin. He has a reputation for carrying out outlandish political actions.
(AFP, Reuters)