Roman Abramovich confirmed on Monday that he suffered symptoms consistent with poisoning after joining peace talks between Russia and Ukraine earlier this month.
The Chelsea president and two Ukrainian peace negotiators were allegedly poisoned after eating chocolates and drinking water during the talks.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the symptoms of their poisoning included red eyes, painful tearing and peeling skin on their faces and hands.
There are mixed reports about the incident, as some stress that the Russian businessman was poisoned by mistake, while others state that the poisoning was intentional, blaming some officials from Moscow who are allegedly trying to bring peace talks to a halt.
“It was during his first trip to Kyiv,” a source told The Guardian.
“Roman lost his sight for several hours. In Turkey, they were treated in a clinic, together with [MP] Rustem [Umerov].”
What were Abramovich’s symptoms?
Abramovich complained of losing his sight when the men headed to Istanbul and he was taken to the hospital.
“We understand the negotiators were poisoned with organophosphates which is the base chemical in nerve agents,” said former chemical weapons colonel Hamish de Bretton-Gordon.
“It does seem very strange their own negotiator Abramovich was affected. Either they don’t care about civilian casualties or it has been a poor operation.
“We saw from the Salisbury operation that the Russians are not as sharp and professional as you might expect.”
Meanwhile, the conditions Abramovich and his Ukrainian negotiators suffered have since improved and their lives are no longer in danger.
Investigative journalism outlet Bellingcat confirmed that the men experienced poisoning symptoms and stressed that they consumed just chocolate and water before the symptoms appeared.
“A fourth member of the team who also consumed these did not experience symptoms,” wrote Bellingcat.
“Based on remote and on-site examinations, the experts concluded that the symptoms are most likely the result of … poisoning with an undefined chemical weapon.”
Marca
