Pavel dmitrichenko released

Victor Hochhauser, who has promoted the Bolshoi in London for 50 years, told BBC News he was sure the Bolshoi under its new director would put the incident behind it.

"Jealousies are not unknown to me in dealing with other companies too, although this is outside the usual norm of jealousies that we know...," he added.

"This incident, tragic though it was, is not going to affect the artistic level of the company in my view."

British ballet critic Ismene Brown said the episode had done considerable damage to the Bolshoi's reputation.

"It's given the impression of a scandalously run and ill-disciplined troupe of essentially internecine rivalries within the company, and also such a chaotic payment system that seems to depend too much on favours and favouritism," she said.

Dancers only get a relatively decent wage if they win roles, she said.

But there have been allegations that roles ar