Russian-Israeli billionaire and philanthropist Roman Abramovich and at least two senior Ukrainian negotiators were struck by symptoms of poisoning earlier this month after attending a meeting in Kiev.
According to the a post on Rotter.net by the Bezalel Foundation, quoting reporters with Israel’s Channel N12 News, Abramovich “lost his vision for a few hours.” He was treated in Turkey, according to the report.
The negotiators and Abramovich have been traveling extensively between Moscow, Lviv, Istanbul and other venues for Russian-Ukrainian peace talks. Abramovich’s late mother was from Ukraine.
All three developed red eyes with constant and painful tearing, and peeling skin on their face and hands, according to sources quoted in a report by The Wall Street Journal.
A source close to Abramovich, who owns the UK’s Chelsea soccer team and is considered to be a close ally of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, said it wasn’t clear who had targeted them.
However, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky met with the group and was not affected, the sources said.
The billionaire, who also holds Portuguese citizenship, acts as the back channel for talks with the Kremlin, and meets personally with Putin, sources said.
Investigator Christo Grozev – who determined in 2020 that the Kremlin had poisoned opposition politician Alexei Navalny with a nerve agent — said a German forensic team with the correct expertise had examined the three men. However, due to their extensive travel schedules, too much time had passed for the examiners to identify the poison that was used.
“It was not intended to kill; it was just a warning,” Grozev told The Wall Street Journal.
The Ukrainian president has asked US President Joe Biden not to extend sanctions to include Abramovich, because he is involved in the negotiations, although he has already been sanctioned by the UK and the European Union.
Abramovich has also tried to help with humanitarian issues, particularly the opening of humanitarian corridors for the evacuation of Ukrainian civilians from the besieged port city of Mariupol, Zelensky told independent Russian media organizations this past Sunday.
A new round of negotiations between the two sides is set for Tuesday in Turkey.
