Salon.com > Moscow

Chimp’s blurry pictures to fetch six figures at auction

Sat, 18 May 2013 17:00:00 +0000

While staggering auction record peaks were summited this week by some talented human artists, a more amateur representative of an underrepresented artist species is expected to gain some auction attention of his own. Photographs by Mikki the chimpanzee that show blurry views of Moscow are estimated to fetch between $75,000 and 100,000 at Sotheby’s.

Mikki posing in Red Square

38 killed in Russian psychiatric hospital fire

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 11:43:00 +0000

MOSCOW (AP) — A fire raged through a psychiatric hospital outside Moscow early Friday, killing 38 people, including two nurses, emergency officials said.

A third nurse managed to save two patients and they were the only three thought to have survived, the state news agency RIA Novosti reported, citing the Health Ministry.

Police said the fire, which broke out at about 2 a.m. local time (6 p.m. Eastern, 2200 GMT) in the one-story hospital in the Ramenskoye settlement, was caused by a short circuit, RIA Novosti reported.

A photograph on the website of the emergency services showed a building consumed by flames.

The emergency services also posted a list of the patients indicating they ranged in age from 20 to 76.

Russian ballet star denies ordering an acid attack

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 12:36:00 +0000

MOSCOW (AP) — The star dancer accused of masterminding the attack on the Bolshoi ballet chief acknowledged Thursday that he gave the go-ahead for the attack, but told a Moscow court that he did not order anyone to throw acid on the artistic director's face.

The judge, however, refused to release Bolshoi soloist Pavel Dmitrichenko on bail and ordered him and his two co-defendants held until at least April 18 while the investigation continued.

Ballet chief Sergei Filin's face and eyes suffered severe burns in the Jan. 17 attack, which exposed a culture of deep intrigue and infighting at the famed theater celebrated for its grand, classical ballets.

Dmitrichenko said he had complained about the ballet chief to an acquaintance, who offered to "beat him up."

"It's not true that I ordered him to throw acid at Filin," the 29-year-old dancer told the court, speaking from a cage. He said he had never intended for the attack to cause such bodily harm.

Moscow police said Thursday that Dmitrichenko had paid 50,000 rubles (about $1,600) to the man, Yuri Zarutsky, accused of throwing the jar of acid in the ballet chief's face as he returned home late at night. The third defendant, Andrei Lipatov, drove the getaway car, but said in video provided by police that he did not know the purpose of his mission.

Ivan the truly terrible: Russian ballet star masterminds attack on Bolshoi chief

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 13:48:00 +0000

MOSCOW — A Russian ballet star who most recently played the title role in “Ivan the Terrible” at the famed Bolshoi Theater has confessed that he organized the acid attack on the theater’s ballet chief, Moscow police said Wednesday.Sergei Filin, the artistic director of the Bolshoi ballet, suffered severe burns to his eyes and face on Jan. 17 when a masked attacker threw a jar of sulfuric acid in his face as he returned home late at night. The 42-year-old former dancer is undergoing treatment in Germany.

Soloist Pavel Dmitrichenko has been detained in the attack on ballet artistic director Sergei Filin.

Star dancer Pavel Dmitrichenko, 29, confessed to masterminding the attack, and two other men confessed to being accomplices, police said in a statement.

Three men, including star dancer, confess to Bolshoi ballet director acid attack

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 13:47:00 +0000

Three men, Andrei Lipatov, Yuri Zarutsky and star ballet dancer Pavel Dmitrichenko, have confessed to burning Bolshoi ballet director Sergei Filin with sulfuric acid in an alleyway in January. The heinous attack left Filin nearly blind with severe burns and reverberated through the nation and beyond as it exposed deep unrest within one of Russia's most esteemed institutions.

The New York Times reports that the men have confessed to the crime, allegedly organized by Dmitrichenko. According to investigators, Dmitrichenko, the lead soloist at the ballet company, had a long-running professional grudge with the theater and a deep "dislike" for Filin. He compared the dancers' salaries to that of migrant workers, telling Private Correspondent magazine that even “migrant workers would not agree to work on a construction site for this money.”

Suspect detained in Bolshoi acid attack

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 17:30:00 +0000

Breaking news update from the AP:

MOSCOW (AP) -- Russian police say they have detained three men, including a star dancer, in the January acid attack on the artistic director of the Bolshoi ballet.

Sergei Filin was left with severe burns to his eyes and face when an unidentified attacker threw a jar of sulfuric acid in his face as he was returning home late on Jan. 17. The 42-year-old former dancer is now undergoing treatment in Germany.

Interior Ministry spokesman Anatoly Lastovetsky said Bolshoi soloist Pavel Dmitrichenko was among those arrested on Tuesday.

The two others are the suspected perpetrator of the attack and the man suspected of driving him to and from the scene.

It was not immediately clear what role the dancer is suspected of playing in the attack.

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Moscow police have detained a suspect whom they believe may be responsible for the attack on Bolshoi ballet artistic director Sergei Filin, who was hospitalized after a man splashed acid on his face in January. The Russian Interior Ministry announced today that it is conducting “a series of urgent investigative actions," including the detention of the suspect and searching of the suspect's home.

Is Israel’s West Bank expansion political suicide?

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 17:48:00 +0000

JERUSALEM ― Israel has suddenly found itself thrust into a diplomatic crisis.

International outcry is mounting in reaction to Israel's announcement that it would permit the building of 3,000 housing units in an area called E1. If completed, the development would divide the West Bank in half.

"We deplore the recent Israeli government decision to build 3,000 new housing units and unfreeze development in the E1 block. This threatens the viability of the two state solution,” The British Foreign Office said in a statement. “Any decision about any other measures the UK might take will depend on the outcome of our discussions with the Israeli government and with international partners including the US and European Union."

In almost every European capital, from Stockholm to Paris and extending even to Moscow, Israeli ambassadors were called to hear angrily-worded rebukes by foreign ministries.

Pussy Riot members moved to far-flung prison colonies

Mon, 22 Oct 2012 11:59:00 +0000

MOSCOW — A lawyer for the two jailed Pussy Riot band members says they have been transferred to prison colonies hundreds of miles from Moscow to serve their sentence.

Mark Feygin said Monday that Maria Alekhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova were transferred during the weekend from Moscow prison, where they were kept since March. Feygin said prison authorities informed him that Alekhina had been sent to the Perm region in the Urals and Tolokonnikova to the central province of Mordovia. He could not confirm the information with his clients.

Alekhina, Tolokonnikova, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, were convicted of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred in August for performing a protest prayer against President Vladimir Putin in Moscow’s main cathedral in February, and given two-year sentences. Samutsevich was released on appeal earlier this month.

Pussy Riot members sentenced to two years in prison

Fri, 17 Aug 2012 14:26:00 +0000

A Moscow judge has sentenced each of three members of the provocative punk band Pussy Riot to two years in prison on hooliganism charges following a trial that has drawn international outrage.

Friday's sentence comes amid a wave of protests around the world in support of the feminist rockers.

The judge said in the verdict that the three band members "committed hooliganism driven by religious hatred" and offended religious believers.

The three were arrested in March after a guerrilla performance in Moscow's main cathedral calling for the Virgin Mary to protect Russia against Vladimir Putin, who was elected to a new term as Russia's president two weeks later.

New York’s forgotten tunnels

Sat, 04 Aug 2012 14:00:00 +0000

With backpack slung behind, headlamp set in place and gloves on hand, Steve Duncan heads down a set of subway stairs. He makes his way to an abandoned station, under a manhole and beyond the city lights of a bridge. His words of warning: “Don’t hit the third rail, don’t get run over by trains, watch for motion detectors and don’t be seen.”

Duncan calls himself an urban explorer. The 33-year-old Maryland native has lived in New York City since 1996, barring two years spent studying in Los Angeles. He is currently a student at City University of New York Graduate Center, working on a Ph.D. in Urban Studies, a discipline he knows as “Sewerology.” Duncan is also a researcher with CUNY’s Institute for Sustainable Cities and a freelance photographer.