Bolshoi Ballet 'villain' arrested

Ballet dancer Pavel Dmitrichenko, often cast as the villain in Bolshoi Ballet productions, is now the lead defendant in a plot worthy of a Tchaikovsky score.

The 29-year-old allegedly choreographed an attack aimed to blind Bolshoi artistic director Sergei Filin, the man who put him in the roles of Ivan the Terrible and Swan Lake's genius.

The mystery of who threw sulfuric acid into Filin's face in January has captivated Russians and kept Moscow officers busy probing rivalries within Russia's renowned 240-year-old ballet company.

It might well send Hollywood literary agents and producers scrambling for story details as described by police reports and local media accounts.

Police declared the case was solved this week with a confession by Dmitrichenko

"I organized this attack but not to the extent that it happened," he is heard saying in a video released by the police

The characters in this drama include Dmitrichenko's girlfriend, Anzhelina Vorontsova. She has not been charged, but local press quote ballet members as saying Dmitrichenko was angry because he thought that Filin was stifling her career.

Two alleged co-conspirators have been detained: Alleged hit man Yuri Zarutsky -- a burly, bearded Russian who was previously convicted of beating someone to death -- and Andrey Lipatov, who allegedly drove the getaway car after Zarutksy's battery acid attack on Filin.

Whereas the final act must still play out in a Russian courtroom, the story opens in the nearly two-century-old Bolshoi Theatre.

Ballet is a world where competition is fierce, and where the artistic director wields significant influence in making or destroying careers.

Filin, 42, was promoted to the Bolshoi Theatre's coveted post in March 2011, shortly after the deputy ballet director, Gennady Yanin, who was widely seen as a favorite for the artistic director post, resigned when pornographic pictures of him surfaced online.

There was "fierce rivalry" for the Bolshoi position at the time, according to the RIA Novosti news agency.

That year, two dancers quit, unhappy with the direction the ballet had taken. Another dancer, Nikolai Tsiskaridze, criticized Filin for going over budget in the ballet's renovation.

Tsiskaridze, incidentally, was also a contender for the artistic director job that Filin got.

But beyond professional disagreements, sinister factors were also at play.

RIA Novosti reported that before the attack, Filin suffered months of intimidation, including threatening phone calls.

Someone slashed his car tires. Somebody also attempted to hack his Facebook profile. The trio of conspirators obtained battery acid at a car parts store, and made the acid stronger by evaporating the water from it, police reported.

Dmitrichenko, who studied Filin's schedule, called Lipatov and Zarutsky when he saw Filin leave the theater on the night of January 17, police reported.

As Filin entered the security code at the door of his Moscow apartment, authorities say, Zarutsky confronted him and tossed the sulfuric acid into his face. It caused 3rd degree burns and left him blinded.

Detectives pored over interviews with those who knew Filin and had suspicions about who would harm him. Other clues led them to several cell phones that Dmitrichenko had registered in other people's names, according to a police statement.

Calls from those phones led investigators to Lipatov, the alleged driver. "I didn't see what happened there," Lipatov told them in a video released by police. "I just took Yuri there, waited for him and gave him a lift back."

When an interrogator asked Zarutsky about the crime, he allegedly said, "I don't want to talk about it."

Police concluded a "hostile relationship" stemming from Dmitrichenko's professional interaction with Filin was his motive.

 A Moscow Court

The three men faced a judge Thursday, who ordered that they be kept in police custody until the investigation is over. If convicted, the attackers could face up to eight years in jail for willfully inflicting damage on the health of another. It may take at least six months for Filin to recover from the burns. In the meantime, Galina Stepanenko, a former principal dancer, will run the company. She says she's going to follow Filin's plans and she believes the dancers will now be united by greater respect and care among the team.

Doctors performed a skin graft on Filin and, after a second eye surgery, they were able to save his eye vision. His colleagues are now working to ensure his artistic vision isn't lost.