Poisoning of participants in the negotiations of Russia with Ukraine. What is known about this

According to Bellingcat, The Wall Street Journal and BBC, Roman Abramovich and two more people suffered

Three participants in the negotiations of Russia and Ukraine had symptoms similar to symptoms in chemical poisoning , the Bellingcat investigation project said on March 28. According to him, among the victims is businessman Roman Abramovich.

Bellingcat found out that Abramovich, along with another Russian businessman, whose name is not revealed, met in Kiev with Rustem Umarov, a deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine participating in negotiations with Russia. The meeting, according to Bellingcat, began on the afternoon of March 3 and lasted until 10 pm. At the end of the meeting, its participants began a sharp pain in the eyes and inflammation of the skin. Symptoms were observed until the next morning.

According to Bellingcat, experts came to the conclusion that the symptoms were most likely caused by poisoning with chemical weapons, the type of which was not exactly established. A less likely version is the effect of microwave radiation. According to Bellingcat, before the appearance of symptoms, all three victims did not use anything but water and chocolate.

The meeting participants in Kiev were more likely to intimidate than to cause real harm to their health , Bellingcat writes with reference to experts. This is indicated by the alleged type of poisonous substance and its dose. The symptoms most consistent with porphyrine poisoning, organophosphates or bicyclic compounds . It was impossible to precisely install the type of substance, since there were no checks on specialized laboratory equipment.

Roman Abramovich completely lost his vision , the BBC Russian Service said . According to the publication, the businessman “peeled off”, and the symptoms passed with him only a few days later. BBC also reports that Abramovich and Umarov appeared when they came from Kyiv to Istanbul. From the messages of Bellingcat it follows that this happened back in Kyiv, immediately after the meeting.

“We thought both on the Ukrainian and the Russian side,” a source close to Abramovich told the Russian BBC Service. The victims did not come to some conclusion who could draw this. According to the source, there is a version that the poisonous substance could spray in the air.

The source of the BBI BBC confirmed that the businessman experienced symptoms similar to symptoms of poisoning. Now Abramovich feels normally and continues to participate in negotiations in order to achieve the end of the war in Ukraine, the source said.

The poisoning of negotiation participants was also reported by The Wall Street Journal. She confirmed that Roman Abramovich and two more people were injured. WSJ notes that Abramovich met in Kyiv with Vladimir Zelensky. The President of Ukraine did not have symptoms of poisoning. According to the newspaper, poisoning may be associated with attempts by some forces in the Kremlin to disrupt negotiations on the termination of the Russian war with Ukraine.

The office of the President of Ukraine did not confirm information about the poisoning of the participants in the negotiations. “All members of the negotiation group work today as usual. There are now a lot of information speculations, various conspiracy versions and elements of a particular information game in the information field. Therefore, I will repeat once again - members of the negotiation groups work today in standard modes, ”said Mikhail Podolyak, adviser to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine.

American intelligence believes that there was no poisoning. This was reported by Reuters with reference to an unnamed American representative. Symptoms of negotiation participants could be caused by an “environmental factor”, not poisoning, the Reuters source said. What “environmental factor” is in question, is not specified.

The first about the poisoning was the journalists of the Agency - but they only reported about the poisoning of Rustem Umarov. According to journalists, this happened in Kyiv. The Agency reported that Umarov "feels satisfactory." Darov himself denied reports of poisoning and called not to trust "unverified sources of information." “Everything is fine with me. “Do not read before lunch of Soviet newspapers,” he wrote on Facebook.