In the ongoing story about arrests for the acid attack on Sergei Filin, artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet, a Moscow TV station reported that the alleged instigator of the attack, Bolshoi soloist Pavel Dmitrichenko, was motivated by "his girlfriend, also a Bolshoi soloist, known to have been at odds with Filin."
She is now identified as ballerina Anzhelina Vorontsova, Dmitrichenko's common-law wife. In an interview before the acid attack, she complained about her "miserly" Bolshoi salary, and her treatment by the artistic director: "They don’t let me dance here," she said. "You have no idea how long I’ve been asking to dance Swan Lake, and they refuse."
After the attack, which nearly blinded him, Filin said the attack was linked to his work, to jealousy or vengefulness inside the theater. "It was hard to imagine that a crime so nasty could have such petty motives," comments the Time magazine article, "and even with the Bolshoi’s history of sabotage — broken glass placed into ballet slippers, cats thrown onto the stage during performances, homoerotic photos leaked online — sulfuric acid in the face seemed too depraved."
Moscow police sources said Dmitrichenko, 29, may have been taking revenge on Filin for obstructing Vorontsova’s career. A Russian TV news channel aired footage of the dancer, looking haggard but calm at a police station. "I ordered the attack," Dmitrichenko said, looking into the camera.