Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich and Ukrainian peace negotiators suffered symptoms of suspected poisoning earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Sanctioned Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich and Ukrainian peace negotiators suffered symptoms of suspected poisoning earlier this month after a meeting in Kyiv, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) has reported.
Abramovich, who accepted a Ukrainian request to help negotiate an end to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and at least two senior members of the Ukrainian team, were affected, Monday’s report said, citing people familiar with the matter.
Their symptoms included red eyes, constant and painful tearing, and peeling skin on their faces and hands, it added.
Abramovich and the Ukrainian negotiators, including Crimean Tatar lawmaker Rustem Umerov, have since improved and their lives are not in danger, the US outlet reported.
The sources blamed the suspected attack on “hard-liners in Moscow who they said wanted to sabotage talks to end the war,” the WSJ said. A person familiar with the matter confirmed the incident to the Reuters news agency but said Abramovich had not allowed it to stop him working.
Experts who looked into the incident said it was difficult to determine whether the symptoms were caused by a “chemical or biological agent or by some sort of electromagnetic-radiation attack”, the sources were quoted as saying.
Source: Aljazeera.com
