Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich and two other members of the Ukrainian delegation to the negotiations with Russia experienced symptoms of possible poisoning after a meeting in kyiv in early March, it has been reported. the Wall Street Journal and has confirmed the international organization Bellingcat this Monday. However, a member of the US government told Reuters hours later that the country’s intelligence services believe the symptoms were due to an “environmental factor” and not poisoning.
The American newspaper has indicated that Abramovich and the negotiators suffered symptoms such as “red eyes, constant and painful tearing, and peeling of the skin on the face and hands.” “Bellingcat can confirm that three members of the delegation who attended the peace talks between Ukraine and Russia on the night of March 3-4, 2022, experienced symptoms of poisoning with chemical weapons,” the organization collects.
Bellingcat can confirm that three members of the delegation attending the peace talks between Ukraine and Russia on the night of 3 to 4 March 2022 experienced symptoms consistent with poisoning with chemical weapons. One of the victims was Russian entrepreneur Roman Abramovich. https://t.co/DJaZ4CoL8J
— Bellingcat (@bellingcat) March 28, 2022
After information from The Wall Street Journal and Bellingcat, the journalist from Guardian Shaun Walker has assured that sources close to Abramovich affirm that the tycoon lost his sight “for several hours” and had to be treated in Turkey.
A source with direct knowledge has just confirmed to me the WSJ/Bellingcat reports that Abramovich suffered symptoms of poisoning. “Roman lost his sight of him for several hours” and was treated in Turkey, the source said.
— Shaun Walker (@shaunwalker7) March 28, 2022
According to Bellingcat, Abramovich, a Russian businessman and the Ukrainian parliamentarian Rustem Umerov participated in the round of negotiations on March 3. When the meeting ended, the three members retired to their apartment in kyiv, where they began to experience the symptoms, which did not stop until the next day, when the group traveled from the capital to Lviv, then to Poland and finally to Istanbul. Already in Turkey they underwent a medical examination, by which they concluded that it was poisoning with chemical weapons, although it could also be due to some type of electromagnetic radiation.
The Wall Street Journal It states that some of the people involved in what happened point to the hard wing of the Kremlin as being responsible for the possible poisoning, to which they attribute the intention of derailing the negotiations. The businessman’s environment has indicated, for its part, to the American newspaper that it is still not clear who would have attacked the participants in the negotiation. For his part, the spokesman for the Government of Volodímir Zelenski assured that they had no information in this regard.
For the moment, neither Russia nor Ukraine, which will meet this Tuesday in a new round of negotiations, have made official statements after the WSJ news and subsequent information from the United States.
Chelsea’s former owner was banned as director of the football club after the UK will sanction him as part of measures against the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The country also decided to freeze the assets of the Russian businessman, despite not being part of the list of oligarchs.
www.eldiario.es