A senior violinist at Russia’s Bolshoi Theatre has died following a freak accident when he fell from the stage into the orchestra pit.

Viktor Sedov, 65, who had performed at the world-famous theatre in Moscow for four decades, died in hospital as a result of his injuries following the fall on Tuesday.

Bolshoi spokesman Katerina Novikova said Mr Sedov, who played in the second violins, was a much-loved member of the theatre and was known for his ‘sense of humour and extraordinary erudition’.

She told the AFP news agency: ‘Viktor Sedov, who had worked almost 40 years at the Bolshoi, fell into the orchestra pit on Tuesday and died on Wednesday in hospital as a result of his injuries.’
In January this year, an artistic director at the Bolshoi nearly lost his sight when he had acid thrown in his face outside his Moscow home.

Sergei Filin, 42, suffered third-degree burns to his face and neck in the attack.

However dancers and staff at the Bolshoi later suggested that Mr Filin may have staged the attack himself.

Last week the theater’s director general Anatoly Iksanov was fired and replaced by Vladimir Urin, who previously headed Moscow’s Stanislavsky Musical Theatre.

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’.

Russia will begin to operate the world’s first floating nuclear power plant in just three years time.

The specially-made ship with a nuclear power plant on-board will provide energy, heat and drinking water to relatively inaccessible areas of the vast country.

The director of Russia’s largest shipbuilders, the Baltic Plant, announced that the unique ship should be operational by 2016 at the 6th International Naval Show in St Petersburg.

The first ship will be called Akademik Lomonosov and is intended to be the first of small fleet of floating nuclear plants in Russia.

The Akademik Lomonosov will weigh 21,500 tons and have a crew of 69 people. But it will not have a propulsion system so will have to be towed to the location where it is needed, according to global news service, RT.

It will have two modified KLT-40 reactors that will be able to provide enough energy for a city with 200,000 people.

The floating power plants will be able to be modified and be used as a desalination plant. This means that the ship could produce a staggering 240,000 cubic metres of fresh water every day.

The ship builder insists that the process of fuel enrichment on the floating power station complies with the International Atomic Energy Agency’s regulations.

The firm claims that its floating power station is safe for the environment as it does not release any hazardous substances while it is operating.

Prison inmates been known to bribe guards so they can smuggle in mobile phones.

But – for the second time in five months – a cat appears to have been used as an accomplice.

Guards patrolling a prison colony in Russia’s north saw a cat on the fence that was apparently carrying something.

On a closer look, they found two mobile phones and chargers taped to the male cat’s belly.

The federal prison service said the incident happened last Friday evening at Penal Colony No 1 near the city of Syktyvkar in Komi province, 600 miles north-east of Moscow.

It was not immediately clear how the cat was supposed to drop off its loot.

A spokesman for the jail said: ‘Two packages were taped to the animal’s back.

‘When the packages were unwrapped, guards found objects prohibited in the penitentiary facility – two cell phones with batteries and chargers.

‘Obviously we can’t question the cat, but someone somewhere knows who he was delivering these items to and we will hold him until we find out.’

It follows an incident in north-east Brazil in January when a cat carrying a saw and mobile phone was ‘detained’ as it entered a prison gate.
Guards at the jail in Arapiraca city, in the state of Alagoas, were surprised when they saw a white cat crossing the main gate of the prison, with its body wrapped with tape.
A closer look showed the feline also carried drills, an earphone, a memory card, batteries and a phone charger.

‘It’s tough to find out who’s responsible for the action as the cat doesn’t speak,’ a prison spokesman said following the incident on New Year’s Day.