In an interview with pianist Jascha Nemtsovon 8 November 2004 in Moscow, Khrennikov asserted that composer Mieczysław Weinberg, when arrested, had been discharged immediately because of Khrennikov's protection; according to Khrennikov the same had happened to Alexander Veprik. The facts are that Veprik spent four years in a prison camp and Mieczysław Weinberg, who was released in June 1953, had been saved from prosecution, and probably from execution, only because of Stalin's death. In recent years, information that had been suppressed since 1948 began to be published, and documents and facts now known confirm that there were extensive prosecutions.