The Interior Ministry refuted Poklonskaya’s claim, saying in a statement later in the day that its investigation began “immediately after receiving the reports of the incident.”
Meanwhile, the St. Petersburg-based Fontanka.ru news website cited unnamed sources with knowledge of the situation as saying that a total of 10 people have been detained in connection with the incidents.
The leader of the fundamentalist group “Christian State – Holy Rus” is listed among those detained.
The RBC business outlet quoted a Moscow Interior Ministry branch source confirming the detention of “Christian State” leader Alexander Kalinin.
“Kalinin, in particular, called for the burning of cinemas where Alexei Uhictel’s film ‘Mathilde’ was announced to be screened,” the unnamed source said.
The attack near lawyer Dobrynin’s office follows an Aug. 31 Molotov cocktails attack on Uchitel’s studio in St. Petersburg and an explosion at a Yekaterinburg cinema on Sept. 4.
Russia’s leading cinema chain said last week that it would no screen “Mathilde” due to frequent threats to theaters.
Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky criticized “the deliberately whipped up hysteria surrounding an otherwise ordinary artistic film” last Wednesday.
In an accompanying statement on the ministry’s website, Medinsky warned that appeasing “activists who flout the law” creates a dangerous precedent.
The Russian Orthodox Church canonized Tsar Nicholas II in 2000.
