The Russian billionaire, Roman Abramovich, and members of the Ukrainian negotiating delegation developed symptoms similar to poisoning, following a meeting in the capital, Kyiv, at the beginning of this March, according to what it reported.The Wall Street JournalAccording to an informed source.
Following the meeting in the Ukrainian capital, the newspaper’s sources stated that Abramovich, who was traveling between Moscow, Lviv and other locations identified for negotiations, and two other high-ranking members of the Ukrainian negotiating team showed symptoms that included redness in their eyes and a painful and continuous flow in their tears and sloughing of the skin on their faces and hands.
The injured blamed the hardliners in Moscow, who wanted negotiations to end the war that Russia launched once morest Ukraine in late February to fail, according to the newspaper. A source close to Abramovich said it was not clear who targeted the group.
The newspaper reported, citing its sources, that Abramovich and the negotiators, including the legislator of the Crimean Tatars, Rustam Omirov, are feeling better now and that their lives are not in danger, stressing that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who met Abramovich previously, was not affected.
For his part, a spokesman for Zelensky denied the existence of any information regarding a suspected poisoning incident.
“Just a warning”
The sources confirmed to the “Wall Street Journal” that Western experts who were briefed on the incident said that it is difficult to judge whether the symptoms were caused by a chemical or biological agent, or if it was an attack using electromagnetic radiation.
The Kremlin did not immediately respond to the newspaper’s request for comment.
The “Wall Street Journal” reported that the investigation was supervised by Christo Grosev, who also led the investigations into the Kremlin poisoning of Russian dissident, Alexei Navalny, with nerve gas in 2020.
Grosev said that he had seen pictures that documented the symptoms during the Ukrainian-Russian negotiations, explaining that it was not possible to obtain a sample in time in the city of Lviv in western Ukraine, through which the negotiators passed, because they were in a hurry to reach Istanbul.
He added that with the arrival of the specialized German criminal investigation team to the site and the start of the tests, it was time to obtain a sample for any possible poison, and stressed: “It was not intended to kill, it was just a warning.”
And in 2018, Britain accused Russia of using a nerve agent on Sergei Skripal, a Russian officer who defected and deported to the United Kingdom, as well as his daughter, Yulia, and later Ngia, and the Kremlin had denied his connection to the incident.
It is noteworthy that Abramovich, the Russian billionaire and president of Chelsea FC, announced his participation in the negotiations to help end the conflict that Russia launched once morest Ukraine on February 24, and has long-standing relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to the “Wall Street Journal”, citing its sources.
Despite being suspected of poisoning, Abramovich decided to continue the peace talks, according to a person close to him, who explained that the Chelsea president traveled last week to Poland and Ukraine and on Monday traveled to Istanbul.
People who have seen him recently note that he devoted a great deal of time to mediating between the warring parties.
Mr. Abramovich’s late mother is from Ukraine.
The Ukrainian-Russian talks failed to gain further momentum, as the war reached a stalemate, with the Russian offensive stalled on a number of fronts. Meanwhile, Ukraine lacked the resources to launch a major counterattack to retake the occupied territories.
A new round of negotiations is scheduled for Tuesday in Turkey, with negotiators discussing a possible political settlement to the war and urgent humanitarian issues, such as evacuating civilians from bombed-out cities and exchanging prisoners.