Bolshoi Ballet Artistic Director Sergei Filin was injured when a masked assailant threw acid at him for what his colleagues believe could be payback for the dancers he selected at the famed Russian company.

The 42-year-old Filin, a former star of the Bolshoi Theater himself, said he was near the gate of his apartment building in central Moscow late Thursday night when a man threw acid on his face. The attacker covered himself up by wearing a hood and either a scarf or mask, so Filin could only see his eyes.

“I got scared and I thought he was going to shoot me,” Filin, his face covered with white bandages, told REN TV. “I turned around to run, but he raced ahead of me.” The vicious attack could leave Filin partially blind.

Anatoly Iksanov, the Bolshoi’s theater general director, believes Filin was attacked because of his job as artistic director.

“He is a man of principle and never compromised,” Iksanov said on Channel One state television. “If he believed that this or that dancer was not ready or was unable to perform this or that part, he would turn them down.” According to Iksanov, Filin knew that someone was out to get him. He said Filin’s tires had been slashed earlier in the week and that he was targeted this month by hackers who posted his professional correspondence online.

Filin, who danced for the Bolshoi from 1989 until 2007, was appointed artistic director of the Bolshoi’s ballet company in March 2011. Before returning to the Bolshoi, he served as artistic director at the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Theater, Moscow’s second ballet company.

He will be flown to Brussels on Friday to receive treatment at a military hospital that specializes in acid burns.

Isidori Mtabo

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