Director of cultural Revolt Centre Daria Chernysheva detained in Syktyvkar

The executive director of the Revolt Centre, Darya Chernysheva, has been detained in Syktyvkar. This was reported by the Telegram channel 'Vot Tak' citing a source familiar with the situation.

Chernysheva is currently in a temporary detention facility. Today, 9 July, the court is expected to decide on her pre-trial restrictions.

According to the source, a criminal case has been initiated against Chernysheva under Article 330.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation — 'Evasion of duties of a foreign agent'. It concerns the failure to provide documents necessary for inclusion in the relevant register. The maximum penalty under this article is up to two years of imprisonment.

Darya Chernysheva previously worked as a manager at the independent regional media 7×7 and participated in organising a feminist festival in Syktyvkar. She also held the position of executive director at the Revolt Centre, as indicated in her LinkedIn profile.

In July 2024, an administrative protocol was drawn up against Chernysheva for publishing without the 'foreign agent' label. The reason was her connection with an association included in the register — referring to '7×7'. However, Chernysheva herself was not officially recognised as a foreign agent and was not included in the Ministry of Justice's register.

This spring, the Revolt Centre in Syktyvkar hosted the exhibition 'Divided', dedicated to the history of special settlers in the Komi region and the legacy of the Gulag labor camps. The work on the project lasted almost a year: it was created by artists and historians striving to carefully touch upon complex, traumatic memories — both personal and collective. The exhibition became a space for a slow, thoughtful conversation about the past, roots, and finding support in today's world.

In addition to the works themselves, the 'Revolt Centre' also offered books, archival documents, and memories covering different periods of Soviet history. The exhibition, as its authors emphasised, did not aim to be 'comfortable' — but this is precisely what made it particularly honest and necessary.

On July 8, masked and heavily armed FSB personnel stormed the premises of the Revolt Center in Syktyvkar.

A series of searches took place in the northern regions of Russia. Later it became known that the FSB accused Pavel Andreev — former publisher of "7×7" and founder of the "Revolt Centre" — of treason. According to the investigation, since 2019 he allegedly maintained secret contacts with representatives of NATO countries.