In Yekaterinburg, the police came to the new director of the Museum of the City's History, a former journalist for Znak.com, Igor Pushkarev. He was taken to the department for interrogation and has already been released.
Pushkarev himself refused to talk about the reasons for the interrogation, however, according to an It's My City source, a protocol was drawn up against him for "discrediting" the Russian army due to a Facebook post. He also claims that the Department of Culture of Yekaterinburg suspended the registration of Pushkarev as the director of the museum. The department itself denies this.
The police visit came a few days after Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner PMC, demanded that the mayor of Yekaterinburg, Alexei Orlov, dismiss Pushkarev as director of the museum. The letter, published on the Telegram channel of the press service of "Putin's chef", claims that while working at Znak.com, Pushkarev published "inaccurate and discrediting information about the Wagner PMC." Prigozhin writes that the journalist acted on orders from "acting agents of American and British intelligence, as well as their agents of influence." In addition, Prigozhin emphasizes that Pushkarev participated in pickets in support of journalist Ivan Safronov, who was sentenced to 22 years in prison under an article on treason.
Orlov refused to fire Pushkarev without verification and at the mere request of Prigogine. “If today the competent structures, on the basis of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s appeal, confirm some facts, we will have grounds to dismiss him from office. If not, let him work,” he told URA.RU.