Sergei Filin claims that he knows who subjected him to a violent acid attack last month, but will not reveal their identities. The artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet, the largest ballet company in the world, told the New York Times that he felt the same group who attacked him are also responsible for the resignation of the company’s director, Gennady Yanin, after erotic photographs of a man resembling him were posted online.

“From the first day of work, when I arrived, I immediately felt that those things that happened with Gennady Yanin,” he told the newspaper. “I felt that I became a continuer, the next participant in this story. As one might say, ‘You’ll be next.’” He went on to explain that he felt the same group of people were responsible and that it was part of the same campaign of disruption within the ballet company, though it’s unclear if the group responsible are already connected with the ballet in some way. “I am practically sure it is exactly the same story, and I think it is not one person — but I don’t want to, and cannot, talk about this now because there is a serious investigation. But I think it is the same people, and I think it is a continuation of the same story. I think it is a group of people who have their own views and ideas regarding the Bolshoi Theater.”

Filin was asked whether he thinks that the members of the offending group would like to run the theater and he replied “I am sure that is the case.” His views were backed by Tatyana Kuznetsova, who writes for the Kommersant newspaper, who said “It was clear that it was someone who did not want him to become artistic director, unfortunately. But who? That is unknown.”