The circus manager said neither the trainer nor the bear were seriously injured, and blamed spectators for provoking the animal with flashes from cellphone cameras.

MOSCOW — Russian bears, according to the Kremlin, “aren’t idiots,” so they never attack President Vladimir V. Putin when he takes to the wilderness for some relaxation. But ordinary folk, a Russian bear handler discovered this week when he was mauled during a circus performance, do not share the president’s aura of intimidating invincibility.