Pussy Riot member Pyotr Verzilov “firmly believes” the GRU was behind his poisoning. He stated this in an interview with the German newspaper Bild.

“I firmly believe that Russian intelligence, possibly the Russian intelligence service GRU, was behind my poisoning. The poisoning was done so professionally that it does not allow any other conclusion. Perhaps they tried a new cocktail of toxic substances on me, because my poisoning was different from others,” he said.

According to Verzilov, he could have been poisoned because he plans to investigate the deaths of three Russian journalists in the Central African Republic (CAR). He expressed hope that he would be discharged soon and emphasized that he wanted to return to Russia.

Former Pussy Riot member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova previously announced Verzilov’s imminent discharge from the hospital on her Twitter. According to her, “Petya [Verzilov] is fine and is being discharged.” She clarified that he “may be discharged today, or maybe not.”

Verzilov was hospitalized in serious condition on September 11 after a trial at which an administrative case against his girlfriend Veronika Nikulshina was considered. Russian doctors suspected he was poisoned by medications. On September 15 he was transferred to the Charite hospital in Berlin. German doctors said that it was highly likely that it was poisoning.

On September 24, the lawyer of the human rights group "Agora" Dmitry Dinze sent a statement to the Investigative Committee of Russia to initiate a case due to the poisoning of Verzilov.

Verzilov admitted GRU involvement in his poisoning