MOSCOW: A masked assailant threw acid at the artistic director of the Bolshoi ballet in an attack that colleagues said could be in reprisal for his future ambitions.
Sergei Filin, a 42-year-old former Bolshoi star, said a man threw the acid into his face near the gate of his apartment building in central Moscow. The attacker wore a hood and either a mask or a scarf, so only his eyes were visible, he said.
“I got scared and I thought he was going to shoot me,” Filin, his face covered with white bandages, told a television channel. “I turned around to run, but he raced ahead of me.”
Colleagues said Filin could be left partially blind.
The Bolshoi’s general director, Anatoly Iksanov, said he believes the attack was linked to Filin’s work.
“He is a man of principle and never compromised,” Iksanov told the TV channal.
Filin knew that someone was threatening him or trying to undermine his position, Iksanov said. He said Filin’s car tires had been slashed earlier in the week and that he was targeted this month by hackers who posted his professional correspondence online.
“He said, ‘I have a feeling that I am on the front lines,’“ Iksanov quoted Filin as telling him before the attack.
Bolshoi spokeswoman Katerina Novikova, who visited Filin in the hospital, told The Associated Press that his condition was stable but he could lose some of his sight. She also appeared to confirm that a disagreement over roles may have played a part in the attack.
Acid attack burns Bolshoi artistic director
