March 29 – Chelsea’s outgoing Russian oligarch owner Roman Abramovich was the target of a suspected poison attack, possibly by Russian hardliners seeking to sabotage peace talks over the war in Ukraine, according to reports that have sparked global headlines.
The incident happened when Abramovich, recently sanctioned by the UK authorities for his links with Vladimir Putin, was attending a meeting in Kyiv on March 3, according to the Wall Street Journal and the investigative outlet Bellingcat. Ukrainian peace negotiators who also participated in the meeting reportedly suffered the same symptoms of peeling skin and sore eyes.
A source close to Abramovich, who recently put Chelsea up for sale, told the BBC he had now recovered and was continuing with negotiations to try and end the war in Ukraine.
The mysterious twist to the entire Abramovich saga sheds light on the role he might be playing as a broker in Russia-Ukraine peace talks. The BBC says he has shuttled between Moscow and Kyiv for several rounds of talks and has met Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.
Thee Kremlin has dismissed reports that tAbramovich was poisoned during peace talks. “This is part of the information campaign, part of the information sabotage, this is part of the information war,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a media briefing, as reported by state media agency Ria Novosti.
Peskov also said that Abramovich was not an official member of the Russian delegation, but was involved in ensuring “certain contacts” between Moscow and Kyiv and his role has been approved by both sides.
A US official told Reuters the alleged incident may actually have been caused by environmental factors, not poisoning, while Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told national television that “everyone is thirsty for news and sensations”.
However, he also added wryly: “I advise anyone going for negotiations with Russia not to eat or drink anything, (and) preferably avoid touching surfaces”.
Bellingcat said the dosage and type of toxin used was not enough to be life-threatening “and most likely was intended to scare the victims as opposed to cause permanent damage. The victims said they were not aware of who might have had an interest in an attack.”
The three men who experienced the symptoms had only consumed water and chocolate in the hours beforehand, Bellingcat said.
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