- Draft
- BBC News World
Sources close to the businessman said that Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich experienced symptoms of suspected poisoning during peace talks in Q earlier this month.
According to reports, the owner of the English football club Chelsea, has since recovered, Pain in the eyes and ESkin scaling.
That being said Two Ukrainian peace negotiators Victims.
American Daily The Wall Street Journal It is suspected that the poisoning was carried out by extremists in Russia who wanted to sabotage the peace talks.
Evidence quoted by the newspaper, including the terms of the Abramovich and Ukrainian negotiations, including that of MP Rustem Umerov Improved after the incident March 3.
On Monday, Umerov tweeted that he was “fine” and urged people not to trust “unverified information”.
The incident highlights Abramovich’s alleged role as a mediator in the Ukrainian-Russian talks. The exact nature of his position is not clear, but a spokesman for the oligarchy said earlier His influence was “limited”..
On Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zhelensky said he would help Abramovich mitigate Russia’s invasion of the country.
The Russian millionaire flew from Moscow to kyiv earlier this month for several rounds of talks. According to some reports, Abramovich met with President Zhelensky during the trip, but the Ukrainian leader showed no signs and his spokesman said he had no information about the incident.
Said Bellingate, an investigative journalism group Abramovich and negotiators “experienced symptoms of poisoning SubjectChemical “.
Symptoms include “swelling of the eyes and skin and pain in the eyes,” Bellingcat said.
Meanwhile, the Reuters news agency quoted an unnamed U.S. official as saying that intelligence reports that the men’s disease was caused by “environmental” factors, not poison.
Since then, Abramovich has appeared in public. He was photographed on March 14 at the Tel Aviv airport in Israel.
Abramovich was cleared earlier this month by the European Union and the United Kingdom for allegedly plotting to assassinate the Russian president. Vladimir PutinSomething he denies.
However, Zhelensky is said to have asked the United States to refrain from granting permission to Abramovich, arguing that he could play a role in concluding a peace deal with Moscow.
The Kremlin claimed that Abramovich played a role Early In peace talksBut the process is now in the hands of negotiating teams from both countries.
The two sides will meet in Istanbul on Tuesday for the first face-to-face peace talks two weeks later.
Analysis by BBC Security Correspondent Frank Gardner
On the night of March 3, Roman Abramovich and Ukrainian peace negotiators met in Kiev, the center of Ukrainian territory. What happened next is very mysterious.
Late that night, three of them suffered from symptoms of neurotoxin poisoning, according to the intelligence website Bellingcat.
They had swollen skin, red eyes and severe pain behind their eyes, and the symptoms persisted throughout the night.
According to Bellingett, none of them ate anything but chocolate and water.
Chemists are reviewing the case and believe it was intentional.
But it is not known who did it. There is no claim to responsibility.
People will inevitably wonder if this is the work of the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence unit. In 2018, Britain decided that the GRU was responsible for the Novichok poisoning in Salisbury.
Peace prevails in Russia and there is no evidence to point out the culprit.
It seems to want to send a warning to those involved in the peace talks. This is not a dangerous level, but a warning.
It is strange that an anonymous American official said that environmental factors are to blame.
Bellingcat researchers concluded that no one else was affected by these very serious medical conditions, which were the result of the deliberate use of a chemical agent.
It would be very surprising if the United States wanted to reject suggestions that someone, especially Russia, had allegedly used a chemical agent in Ukraine.
Now you can get notifications from BBC World. Download the latest version of our app and activate it so you don’t miss out on our great content.