Bolshoi's Sergei Filin left blind in one eye by acid attack

The artistic director of the Bolshoi Theatre Sergei Filin has undergone 22 operations and has been left blind in one eye after the acid attack which plunged the famous ballet company into crisis six months ago.

Speaking of the moment of the attack Mr Fillin said: “The pain was immense and instant. It had been a beautiful winter night: silent, white, great drifts of snow falling upon snow. I began scooping up handfuls of it and pressing them into my eyes and cheeks to relieve the agony.”

A man stepped out of the darkness and threw corrosive liquid into Mr Filin’s face as he was returning home late on 17 January, leaving him scarred and his eyesight at risk.

Pavel Dmitrichenko, a Bolshoi dancer, has since been charged with ordering the assault.

Mr Filin, 42, offered rare insight into his condition half a year after the attack.

“Last week I underwent my 22nd operation,” Mr Filin told The Telegraph. “Some of the optimism that we had earlier has not been justified."

"My right eye sees nothing at all and my left is working at about 10 per cent. I can make out light and dark; I can’t make out faces. But I want to concentrate on the fact that my doctors are amazing and there is a plan for treatment. There is hope that my left eye especially can improve.”