MOSCOW (AP) — Moscow police say a star dancer accused of masterminding the acid attack on the Bolshoi ballet chief paid 50,000 rubles (about $1,600) to two men suspected of carrying it out.
Police spokesman Maxim Kolosvetov also said Thursday that the dancer is believed not only to have ordered the January attack on artistic director Sergei Filin but to have organized it.
Bolshoi soloist Pavel Dmitrichenko and his two co-defendants are due to appear Thursday in a Moscow court, where a judge is to decide whether they should remain in custody pending trial.
Dmitrichenko was shown in video provided by police confessing to masterminding the attack. State television has suggested that he was motivated by Filin's refusal to cast his girlfriend, also a Bolshoi dancer, in a starring role.
