The Russian businessman Abramovich also presented the symptoms of inflammation and pain in the eyes and skin, which only subsided after a week
At least two members of the ukrainian delegation, participants in peace talks with representatives of Russia that took place in the evening of the 3 March have experienced symptoms”that fit” with those of poisoning by chemical weaponsaccording to the investigative website Bellingcat on its Twitter account and published shortly after by the American newspaper The Wall Street Journal. In the negotiations, which took place on Ukrainian territory, the Russian businessman came to participate Roman Abramovichwho would also have been affected by the attack, in addition to the Ukrainian deputy of Tatar origin Rustem Umerov.
In accordance with Christo Grozev, the author of the investigation, those responsible for the alleged poisoning did not want to end the lives of the delegates, and simply intended to send them a “warning”. Affected Ukrainians believe the attack was the responsibility of Kremlin hardliners who reject any form of compromise with kyiv, while members of Abramovich’s entourage have been less adamant about it. The businessman, close to the Russian head of state, has been involved in recent weeks in frenetic negotiating activity and numerous attempts to open humanitarian corridors for the civilian population and also to achieve a Stop the fire between the armies of Russia and Ukraine, constantly traveling between Moscow and Lviv and other scenarios.
first clues
The first clues about the probable poisoning appeared a few hours after the appointment. The Ukrainian negotiators retired to an apartment in kyiv, where they began to experience inflammation in the “skin” and in “the eyes“, in addition to “pain“. The symptoms only subsided after one week. Because those affected were in a hurry to travel to Istanbul, they could not be duly examined by medical experts who could certify exactly what happened. Abramovich lost his vision for “several hours”, according to a source close to the British newspaper Guardian. The three men only consumed “water and chocolate“During the hours before the meeting, the London publication continues.
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Numerous opponents of the Kremlin have been poisoned in recent years, including Alexei Navalni, Sergei Skripal or Vladimir Kara-Murza. According to what the latter declared to EL PERIÓDICO, such a method is preferred because, on the one hand, it is “sadistic and very painful“, and on the other it allows the Kremlin’s “propaganda machine” what is called plausible deniability, that is, the possibility of claiming that it is “an allergy, a binge or lack of sugar“.
Bellingcat is a website that is the author of numerous compromising investigations for the Russian state. Among his most outstanding works is the identification of the authors of the Skripal poisoning, two agents of the Russian military intelligence, better known by the acronym GRU, called Anatoli Chepiga and Aleksandr Mishkin.
Abramovich, along with another Russian entrepreneur, had taken part in the negotiations alongside Ukraine’s MP Rustem Umerov. The negotiation round on the afternoon of 3 March took place on Ukrainian territory, and lasted until about 10 pm.
— Bellingcat (@bellingcat) March 28, 2022