Russian oligarch and Vladimir Putin friend Roman Abramovich and two Ukrainian peace negotiators may have been poisoned after a meeting early in March, according to a Wall Street Journal article citing “people familiar with the matter.”
Mr. Abramovich, Ukrainian lawmaker Rustem Umerov and another negotiator developed symptoms following the March 3 meeting in Kyiv that included red eyes, constant and painful tearing, and peeling skin on their faces and hands, the people said. Mr. Abramovich has shuttled between Moscow, Belarus and other negotiating venues since Russia invaded Ukraine.
Mr. Abramovich was blinded for a few hours and later had trouble eating, according to a person familiar with the matter.
One of the sources for this story is Abramovich’s personal aide, who was able to confirm his boss’s illness. But most of the reporting appears to have come from the open-source investigative team at Bellingcat.
Bellingcat can confirm that three members of the delegation attending the peace talks between Ukraine and Russia on the night of 3 to 4 March 2022 experienced symptoms consistent with poisoning with chemical weapons. One of victims was Russian entrepreneur Roman Abramovich. https://t.co/DJaZ4CoL8J
— Bellingcat (@bellingcat) March 28, 2022
The investigative group claims they delayed publication of the story in the interest of protecting the targets.
Bellingcat chose not to report this story earlier due to concern about the safety of the victims. Given the choice of the targeted individuals to speak up, Bellingcat and its investigative partner @the_ins_ru intend to publish an investigation into the presumed poisonings.
— Bellingcat (@bellingcat) March 28, 2022
The types of toxins involved and the dosage received by the victims suggest that the poisoning was intended to intimidate and scare the victims, not kill them.
Too much time had passed for the suspected poison to be detected by the time a German forensic team was able to perform an examination, he said. “It was not intended to kill, it was just a warning,” Mr. Grozev said.
Bellingcat said the three men who are suspected to have been poisoned consumed only chocolate and water in the hours before the symptoms appeared. The men went to an apartment in Kyiv that night after the talks concluded and began to feel ill, according to Bellingcat. The next day the group drove from Kyiv to Lviv, on their way to Poland and then Istanbul.
According to two consulted CW experts and a doctor, the symptoms were most consistent with variants of porphyrin, organophosphates, or bicyclic substances. A definitive determination was not possible due to the absence of specialized laboratory equipment near the victims.
— Bellingcat (@bellingcat) March 28, 2022
Poisoning is Vladimir Putin’s preferred method of assassination and intimidation. At least a dozen Putin foes have been targeted for death by various poisons, toxins, and nerve agents since 2006. Alexander Litvinenko, a former Russian intelligence officer who defected to the West, was murdered using polonium-210 — a highly radioactive substance.
The FSB is accused of trying to kill opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who collapsed on an internal flight in August 2020 and only survived because he was able to get to specialists in Germany for treatment. Navalny was later sentenced to nine years in prison for violating his parole after he couldn’t leave Germany because he was recovering from the poisoning.
There’s no doubt that Putin is capable of killing Abramovich and Ukrainian negotiators, but, given the time that’s passed, it would be impossible to confirm Putin’s involvement.