The chief of Moscow’s Bolshoi Theater was fired today after months of infighting following an acid attack on its artistic director that has stained the reputation of one of the legendary names in world ballet.

The departure of Anatoly Iksanov, the theater’s director general, comes just a few weeks after the ouster of his rival, principal dancer Nikolai Tsiskaridze.

Both men have enjoyed the backing of senior government officials and Kremlin-connected tycoons, and their successive dismissals appear to reflect high-level intrigue and score-settling.

Russian Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky said only that the 61-year old Iksanov, who led the Bolshoi for nearly 13 years, was dismissed because of a ‘difficult situation at the theatre’.

He told a news conference that the head of Moscow’s No. 2 ballet company, the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Music Theater, would succeed Iksanov.

The Bolshoi has been shrouded in scandal for years but a fierce conflict erupted in January after an assailant threw acid into the face of Bolshoi artistic director Sergei Filin.

The decision to purge both men also appears to reflect the Kremlin’s dismay over the infighting that has dented the nation’s prestige.

Vladimir Urin, the new Bolshoi chief, is widely respected in Russia’s theater world. He sought to quell passions, voicing hope for a ‘calm and business-like’ climate and saying that he doesn’t want any ‘revolutions’.