Police said Mikhail Vasilievich Pletnev, the founder of the Russian National Orchestra (RNO), was accused of molesting one boy and appearing in compromising photographs with several others.

He could face up to 20 years in jail if found guilty.

Police said he was arrested on Monday following a tip from a Thai national who was charged with child molestation for his alleged involvement in a child prostitution ring. Police confiscated pictures of young boys, some alongside foreigners.

Some of the photos showed Pletnev with the boys in compromising positions.

Pletnev founded the RNO, the country's first independent orchestra, after befriending Mikhail Gorbachev in 1988, and was its first principal conductor. Today, he is its artistic director.

Internationally known as a pianist, conductor and composer, Pletnev won a 2005 Grammy for an arrangement of Prokofiev's Cinderella, which was recorded with him and Martha Argerich on piano.