Truth Is Out There
Pianist Pavel Kushnir, who died in pretrial detention, loved the X-Files. Like Agent Mulder, he saw evil that others overlooked.
In Birobidzhan, a memorial service was held for pianist Pavel Kushnir, who died in pretrial detention. He was charged with incitement to terrorism (Part 2, Article 205.2 of the Russian Criminal Code). The charges stemmed from a video posted on the "Foreign Agent Mulder" channel. He went on a hunger strike in pretrial detention. Friends suspect he may have been tortured—a bruise on his left eye was visible even at the funeral. However, his family refused to conduct an independent examination. They were also absent from the funeral parlor. The life and death of this pianist, a genius acknowledged by his colleagues, are explored in NeMoskva's report.
I listened to Scriabin's program three times.
Rain was forecast for August 8 in Birobidzhan. But even the fog cleared—by 15:00 PM, the sky was cloudless.
The first to arrive at the funeral home at 139 Sovetskaya Street, ahead of schedule, were Alexander and Maxim, fans of Pavel Kushnir's work. We spoke with them there, surrounded by monument blanks and artificial flowers.
Maxim and Alexander are over 40 and live in Birobidzhan. Both tried not to miss Pavel's concerts. Maxim says he's heard the Scriabin program alone three times. He stutters badly, but is willing to share everything he knows about his favorite pianist—even though he doesn't know much.
“He was a closed person, we only opened him up when he was playing, — Alexander shares. "How did I know he was in opposition? He played Wagner superbly. And then there was a concert at the library. And he didn't play Wagner, even though he had planned to, saying, 'They've had enough of me.'"
"He caught my eye for a different reason. His first concert was in Birobidzhan with the Philharmonic back in 2022, and he wasn't hired until 2023. It wasn't because he was new—we have plenty of new ones. You know, he bowed lower than anyone else to the audience," Maxim adds.
"Yes," Alexander chimes in. "Sometimes young Moscow artists come, and the audience is just trash to them. They'll start the program half an hour late, or they'll leave early. That's how it's done. Pavel was never late."
According to Maksim, Pavel Kushnir was used "to the fullest" in the region, sent "to every nook and cranny" of the region. He didn't refuse and played everywhere.
"They gave him a letter of thanks for it. They announced it in front of the whole room, and he just shrugged and took the paper," says Maxim.
Pavel Kushnir announced his hunger strikes on social media while still free, says Maksim—he followed the artist's social media activities. He says he wanted to befriend him and get to know him better. They were casual acquaintances, didn't really communicate, and limited themselves to small, "distant" conversations, the source explains.
"He went on hunger strike for the first time in May 2023. When I found out, my eyes went dark. I didn't know his background; I thought he was suffering from deep depression. What can I say—alone in a strange city, at the end of the world. And in Birobidzhan, no less. It's more depressing here." than in Kurgan or Kursk"I wrote to him that time: I'm sorry you did that. I tried to convince him that a hunger strike wouldn't achieve anything, and would only bring him harm and trouble. After that, he started avoiding me. Then, it seemed, we said hello again. I was hoping to gradually get closer to him. I suggested he visit you, and if so, could you give me your address? But he didn't respond. Then, somehow, we started talking again, and he told me that most of his friends were abroad, and that he once hitchhiked from Moscow to Tambov. That's all," Maxim recalls.
Maxim learned about the arrest, which came as a shock to both listeners, practically by accident.
"I just went to the Philharmonic's website, to the artists' section. And I saw there was no portrait of Pavel Kushnir. I wrote to the administrator: did he quit or did something happen? They sent me a video of his arrest. And it turned out we lived in the same building—I was in the second entrance, he was in the first. I often saw him from my window, or next to the building. And it turned out we were neighbors.
Down with Putin's fascist regime
On the arrest of Pavel Kushnir on May 31 сообщил The public page "Atypical Birobidzhan" [unclear text]. According to the authors, the pianist was an active participant in protests and an opponent of the "SVO." The criminal case was "led by his attempt to realize himself as an opposition blogger." According to the public page, Pavel "called for the violent overthrow of the constitutional order in the Russian Federation through revolution." A homemade FBI ID was found on him during his arrest. "Now the sanity of this 40-year-old fantasist will be assessed by psychiatric experts," the authors wrote.
There was no other news about the arrested man in the local media.
In Birobidzhan, notes the journalist from "Vot Tak," who was the first to report Pavel's death, there's no political life at all. She herself lived in the Jewish Autonomous Region for several months before the war and continues to follow the region's events. And she was particularly captivated by the story because no one knew anything about it; there was absolutely no public information about Kushnir's case. There were no support groups, no collections for lawyers or food parcels.
The "homemade FBI agent ID" mentioned in the news story has a simple explanation: Pavel loved The X-Files. He even named his YouTube channel, created in 2011, "Alien Agent Mulder." Those who watched The X-Files remember Mulder's enviable intuition; he notices evil in the mundane where everyone else thinks everything is normal. He understands that the truth is out there, persistently searches for it, and eventually finds it. He points out the nature of evil. And defeats it.
According to friends, by the time Kushnir caught the attention of law enforcement, the pianist had five subscribers. Now he has about a thousand subscribers, but the videos he started posting a year ago number only four. The latter—the one that sparked the criminal case— total for 50 seconds.
"The Bucha massacre is a disgrace to our homeland. Fascism is the death of our homeland. Putin is a fascist. The peoples of our country gave millions of their best lives so that fascism would never exist. And we will not accept, we will not worship the beast. Down with the war in Ukraine. Down with Putin's fascist regime. Freedom for all political prisoners. Freedom for all prisoners. And freedom for everyone," he says in the recording. On the wall above the pianist is a portrait that resembles a photo of David Duchovny, the actor who played Agent Mulder.
Neither Alexander nor Maxim knew anything about the existence of the channel before Pavel Kushnir’s death.
They beat him!
By 16:00 PM, the announced time for the farewell, no one else had arrived. Four of us—two journalists, Alexander, and Maxim—entered the funeral hall. A digital clock hung on the wall, meticulously marking the allotted time for the farewell.
A little later, a young man arrives. He has a shock of unruly curls, his head bowed. It's hard to get a good look at him at first. He doesn't look like his colleague from the Philharmonic—he's too young. Silently, his head bowed, he stands next to Alexander and Maxim.
After saying goodbye, it turned out to be Viktor, an eleventh-grader. He didn't particularly follow Pavel's work, having only attended one concert when Pavel played Rachmaninoff. But he did keep an eye on the repressions in the country.
"I'm still studying now, but I'll be moving later. Because of loneliness and a lack of prospects. I came because this is a loss for the city I love. Unfortunately, I didn't know where Pavel Kushnir was. There was a report about a psychiatric evaluation, and I thought he'd been sent for compulsory treatment. I regret not sending a single letter, although I try to write to political prisoners."
“I also think that his death is proof that activism in small Russian towns is a fragile phenomenon, — Victor adds. "People don't really interact with each other; few people know each other. Even I'm a local and I couldn't find a single anarchist in the entire city. I didn't think about how many people would be here today. I wanted to come for myself, to represent all of Russia. I believe that the soul of all of Russia was here. At least, the opposition part."
Following him, two colleagues from the Philharmonic enter the hall to say goodbye. Silently, they each place a chrysanthemum on the prepared table. They stand there for five minutes and then leave the hall.
Vitaly Blazhevich, who came from Khabarovsk, practically bursts into the hall late. A former activist, he usually makes no secret of his opposition views. He holds two red carnations, lost among the white roses and chrysanthemums.
"I've been scrolling through the news this morning and I see—the funeral is today!" Vitaly says afterward, on the stuffy commuter train to Khabarovsk. He didn't know Pavel Kushnir any more than the others who had come to the funeral home, but he was thrilled to have been able to join him and almost be on time. "I thought and thought. Then—no, I have to go. First to the train station: the train is at the same time there, then I went to the bus station—maybe I'll make it earlier. No, there's no telling what time it is. Then back to the train station—I'd already bought a ticket for some passing train. They didn't tell me how to get back at the station, but whatever, I figured I'd figure something out there, maybe I'd catch the last bus."
Toward the end, three more people entered: an elderly woman, a man, and a younger woman. Their identities also remained unknown—they did not speak to journalists and quickly left the hall after the ceremony.
Maxim stood by the coffin longer than anyone else, carefully examining the body.
- They beat him! — he whispers to me. — He has a bruise on his left eye. They definitely beat him!
Others also wrote about the beatings. publicationsIn particular, it was reported that Pavel was placed in a pretrial detention center with criminals who beat him so severely that he had to be carried on a sheet during interrogations.
The bruise is indeed noticeable, if you look closely. There's also a bruise on the pianist's lips. Maxim keeps glancing at the artist he once wanted to befriend. The bruises are indeed there, and it's hard to mistake them for anything else.
Vitaly breaks the silence.
Many people only learned about Pavel and what a wonderful person he was after his death. It's terrible, of course. In Birobidzhan, he was known as a musician, an interesting person. But unfortunately, no one knew him anywhere else, not even in the surrounding towns. Not in Khabarovsk, not in Vladivostok, let alone all of Russia. But Pavel's death was a complete shock to all decent people. This simply shouldn't happen. The man literally died a martyr's death.
As Vitaly later noted, he waited for his relatives to speak, and only then realized none of them were there. He decided to say something, believing it was important to do so, because seeing someone off in complete silence would be inhumane.
An elderly woman, the last to arrive, timidly joined him. She briefly told him that Pavel hosted an interesting radio show and gave concerts at the library. He was a talented musician and a good man.
Not like all the other boys
Pavel Kushnir's talent was noticed in childhood. He was born in Tambov on September 19, 1984. Victoria was Pavel's neighbor in Tambov—they lived in the same building. She says she doesn't remember much—"I was little." But she knows for sure: the family was respected in the city.
"His grandfather lost a leg in the war and was a highly respected man. His father, Boris Mikhailovich Kushnir, was also a renowned musician and author of books on music. Pavel's mother still works at the Rachmaninoff Tambov Music Pedagogical Institute. And Pavel, as I remember, was always that kind of focused boy. You know, he didn't run around garages like the others. Even then, he had a strong character and willpower, without all that boyish stuff," Victoria recalls.
He had been passionate about music since childhood, and in 2002 he graduated from the Rachmaninoff Tambov College of Music. He then spent five years studying at the Tchaikovsky Moscow Conservatory. Another acquaintance of Pavel's youth, who remains anonymous, knew Kushnir when he was 17.
"I was 19, Pasha was 17 then. We went to college together. And back then, I remember him as a willful, confident, but gentle man. I don't know how he changed in recent years; we didn't speak anymore. But he certainly never changed his point of view."
Anna also studied with Pavel, but in Tambov. She says she never had much contact with him and doesn't support his political views. Despite this, Anna also calls his acting brilliant.
"I'm very upset that someone could so skillfully convince Pavel to sacrifice himself and give fodder to the 'fifth column' to chew on his name. I don't share his anti-Putin views; I believe he was influenced. It was very unpleasant for me to watch 'Alien Agent Mulder,' but to the great pianist Pavel Kushnir—eternal memory!" she responded to questions in a correspondence. She didn't specify whose influence the pianist might have fallen under.
Anastasia studied with Kushnir in Moscow in the early 2000s. In a conversation with NeMoskva, she recalls often performing after him: their last names start with adjacent letters. She recalls that Pavel always knew how to encourage others.
We entered the Moscow Conservatory the same year, sat next to each other during the entrance theoretical exams, and were in the same year. He lived in the dorms for the first few years of his studies, and in the last two or three years he only came to take exams—he lived mostly in Tambov. I wouldn't say we spent much time together, and after graduating from the conservatory, we "lost touch," and about 20 years passed. But he was always at my concerts, and he was very supportive and encouraging before I went on stage. I was there myself at his final exam, where he brilliantly played Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto.
Anastasia says he always wanted to go to the provinces – to raise culture in small towns, as she puts it.
"I only heard later from friends that he worked in Birobidzhan. But I can say he was a very erudite, well-read, extraordinary person, a spontaneous and talented musician and composer."
In 2011, after completing his studies in Moscow and while working at the Kursk Regional Philharmonic, Pavel created his YouTube channel, "Foreign Agent Mulder." It currently has 973 subscribers. At the time the security forces became interested in him, the channel had five subscribers.
In 2012, Pavel became actively involved in public life: he participated in protests on Bolotnaya Square, and two years later, in pickets against the occupation of Crimea and the war in Donbas.
In 2014, Pavel wrote his anti-war novel, "Russian Cutup." The book was published today by a German publisher and can be purchased at bukinist.de—it was ready for print in just two days.
"I haven't encountered such talented Russian prose since 'Moscow - Petushki' (these works are unlike anything else). There are simply unforgettable images, there are amazingly aptly named pieces, and most importantly, there's a RHYTHM that you couldn't imagine. But I'm not even halfway through yet." — wrote poet and philologist Olga Sedakova on her social media page.
«"Cut-up" is a cut-up of Burroughs, whom Pavel compares to Mozart in the novel. The novel begins with an homage to Pierre Guillot—"Eden. Eden. Eden," except it takes place not in Algeria, but during the Soviet advance in East Prussia. Like Guillot, Kushnir explodes syntax and twists words: unspeakable atrocities destroy the Russian language, abolishing all rules. Pavel was the ideal reader of "Mitya's Journal": it's clear he knew not only Acker, Guillot, and Burroughs, but also Ilyanen, Ulitin, Kharitonov, — recalls Russian writer, translator and publisher Dmitry Volchek. — "I've dreamed my whole life of receiving such a manuscript, made up of everything I hold dear in literature, and I suppose Pavel intended to send it to me. But I didn't respond to his letter about the translations, and he decided not to bother me. Everyone writes about him being a brilliant musician, but he was also a remarkable writer."
Due to his political views, Pavel's relationship with his mother and brother deteriorated. How рассказал One of his friends, Pavel, considered the annexation of Crimea and the war in Donbas a real war between Russia and Ukraine. His family didn't support his position, and Pavel distanced himself from them and stopped communicating. The pianist's mother, Irina Levina, told the publication that Pavel didn't argue with his family. She also said that her son was physically strong, but not mentally strong.
"Physically, he was quite resilient, but only physically. I'd say emotionally—not so much, mentally. Of course, I wanted him to keep a low profile, to stay out of politics. And I even think Pavel didn't understand politics very well. He didn't delve into it deeply enough, in my opinion. Superficially. So I'm very sorry that he gave his life, it turns out, for nothing," his mother is certain.
She herself explained the start of the war against Ukraine as necessary, 30 years of provoking Russia, and the creation of an "anti-Russia" in Ukraine—exactly as Russian propaganda says.
As his friend Anastasia recalled, Pavel had no desire to move to the capital. After graduating from the conservatory, he worked as a soloist for the Kursk Regional Philharmonic for seven years, then for three years with the Kurgan Philharmonic. He arrived in Birobidzhan in 2023. He said in an interview with a local channel that he was looking for work. I arrived for 12 years.
"Why such a figure?" the host asks Pavel.
"It just slipped out. But it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. I don't believe in them at all, but I hope it works this time."
Around the same time, about a year ago, the first videos appeared on the "Foreign Agent Mulder" channel.
Olga Khokhlova, who worked with him in Birobidzhan, says he can only be described as a genius. She says he didn't interact closely with his local colleagues.
What can I say about Pavel other than that he was a great professional and, of course, unique? Absolutely. But as a person, he was very private, so I can't say anything more about him. Of course, I'm very sorry that this happened. He participated in all our concerts; he was a rare talent. But what can you do? Everyone has their own choice.
There's been no mention of the death of the Philharmonic's leading pianist on its social media pages. All mentions of him on its website have also disappeared.
Pavel was arrested on May 9, 2024. His friend рассказал He told Mediazona that he immediately began a hunger strike. He said he lost ten kilograms, but he didn't want to give up on his plans. The last time his friend saw him, he noticed a bruise under Pavel's left eye.
"It's my right to express my opinion. No one wants to listen to me, and this is my position. I'm protesting against political prisoners, [against] the fact that all these bad people behave this way," Kushnir told an acquaintance.
Hunger strikes as a form of protest were, one might say, a habit for him. He conducted his first hunger strike for 20 days in protest against Russia's invasion of Ukraine on May 9, 2023. His second hunger strike lasted 100 days, until March 2024. Furthermore, after February 24, 2022, he posted anti-war leaflets.
His friend Olga Shkrygunova told reporters that Pavel communicated with her through letters, and she tried to dissuade him from his hunger strike. But she was unsuccessful. In the pretrial detention center, according to his mother, they also tried to dissuade him, giving him some kind of IV drip. But it didn't help. On July 27, 2024, he died. According to the official version, пишет According to Mediazona, the cause of death was "dilated cardiomyopathy and congestive heart failure."
"Dear mourners, the ceremony has come to an end. The deceased will be taken to the crematorium. To bid farewell, anyone who wishes may touch the coffin."
The few attendees of the ceremony made their way toward the coffin. Whether Kushnir was tortured will now be unknown. His body was cremated, and his ashes will be delivered to Tambov. Pavel will take the truth that was so close to him with him to the next world.
