The web of intrigue around Russia’s Bolshoi Theater continued to grow over the weekend after Anatoly Iksanov, the theater’s general director, told Russian television that he doesn’t believe that the mastermind behind the January acid attack on Sergei Filin, the ballet company’s artistic director, has been found.
“He was pushed â€" the entire collective is certain of this,†Mr. Iksanov told “Vesti Nedeli,†a weekly current affairs program broadcast on Sunday night, of Pavel Dmitrichenko, the Bolshoi Ballet soloist who was arrested last week on charges of ordering the attack on Mr. Filin. “That’s why he’s not the actual instigator that he’s being made out to be. He is one of the perpetrators. There is a mastermind, and the investigation ust find this person.â€
Two other men have been arrested, one for carrying out the attack and the other as his accomplice.
Mr. Filin’s lawyer, Tatyana Stukalova, told the Interfax news agency on Monday that Mr. Filin shares Mr. Iksanov’s doubts and speculated that the dancer is, for now, “covering for this ‘mastermind.’â€
“From the outset we were of the opinion, we understand full well, that it had nothing to do with Anzhelina Vorontsova, that there is a mastermind,†Ms. Stukalova told the news agency, referring to Mr. Dmitrichenko’s girlfriend, a promising ballerina.
Reports continue to come out in the Russian media about a meeting of the Bolshoi troupe with investigators last Thursday at which dancers expressed concern about Mr. Dmitrichenko’s arrest and Ms. Vorontsova is said to have spoken and asked the troupe to support him.
Bolshoi management has made no secret of its disdain for Nikolai Tsiskaridze, a star dancer who is Ms. Vorontsova’s teach! er, but a chief police investigator told “Vesti Nedeli†that he is not a suspect.
