Ukraine has denied reports that oligarch Roman Abramovich and Ukrainian participants were poisoned during peace talks, calling it an “information war”. Another person involved said he was fine.
In Ukraine, participants in negotiations to end the war with Russia have denied reports that they were poisoned. All members of the negotiating groups are working normally, Ukrainian negotiator Mykhailo Podoliak said on Monday, according to local media. “In the information sector there is currently a lot of speculation, different versions of conspiracies and elements of one or the other information game.”
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and the international research collective Bellingcat unanimously reported that the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich and other participants complained of symptoms of poisoning after peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine in early March.
Abramovich was part of a Russian delegation that met with Ukrainian negotiators in Kyiv on March 3-4. Both Abramovich and two other Ukrainian participants are said to have had red eyes and skin afterwards and also felt stabbing pains in their eyes. The symptoms continued the next morning and only subsided over the course of the following week. According to “WSJ”, the skin of the affected people should also have peeled off on their hands and face.
Did Russian hardliners want to sabotage negotiations?
According to Bellingcat, it was able to see photos of the affected skin areas. Samples could not be taken because the delegation had traveled on to Istanbul. The “WSJ” reports that the group suspects Russian hardliners who wanted to disrupt the peace negotiations to be behind the symptoms.
What triggered the symptoms among the negotiators is still unclear. Bellingcat and the “WSJ” report poisoning with previously unknown chemicals as a possible cause. An alternative assumption was irradiation with microwaves. However, this is no longer considered likely.
No known reaction from Abramovich
According to the “WSJ”, Volodymyr Zelenskyy was also present at the talks. Selensky himself did not show any symptoms. A spokesman for Zelenskyj told the “WSJ” that he had no information about the poisoning.
Rustem Umyerow, who was mentioned as a victim in “WSJ”, wrote on Facebook early Monday morning that everything was fine with him. “I’m fine. This is my answer to all the gossip that’s spreading. Please don’t trust any unverified information. We too have an information war going on.” Abramovich has also not made any public statements about a possible poison attack.
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Source: Stern
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