Sulphuric acid used in Bolshoi ballet attack: Police

MOSCOW — The assailant who threw acid in the face of the Bolshoi ballet's artistic director, used Vitriol or sulphuric acid, in the vicious attack that may cost Sergei Filin his eyesight, Moscow

police said Sunday.

"According to preliminary findings, it was sulphuric acid," a police spokesman was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.
Forty-two-year old Filin, an acclaimed former dancer appointed artistic director in 2011, suffered third-degree burns to his face, head and eyes late Thursday when a masked man cornered him near his house in central Moscow.
Filin underwent emergency surgery Friday at a Moscow hospital in a bid to save his eyesight. His eyes will be bandaged for days, and it is unclear how much sight, if any, the ballet chief will regain.
Filin's colleagues have described an environment of intense rivalry behind the scenes of Russia's most prestigious theatre.
On Friday, the Bolshoi's general director Anatoly Iksanov said Filin had been the target of a long-term intimidation campaign that included hacker attacks on his website, disconcerting phone calls, and having his car tyres slashed.
Iksanov said Friday that investigators were questioning theatre employees and performers.
Sulphuric acid is extremely corrosive and can mutilate the skin upon contact. If splashed into the eyes, it can lead to permanent blindness.