Chelsea's president may have been poisoned

Presidente do Chelsea pode ter sido envenenado

Chelsea FC President Roman Abramovich and two other Ukrainian peace negotiators showed health symptoms that lead to strong suspicions of possible poisoning.

Roman Abramovich, Ukrainian MP, Rustem Umerov and another negotiator held a meeting in Kiev on March 3. At the end of the meeting, all three presented with various allergic symptoms, including reddened eyes, continuous sore tears, peeling skin on the face and hands.

Abramovich has been shuttling back and forth between Moscow, Belarus and other negotiating venues since Russia invaded Ukraine.

Who is the African "trillionaire" who wants to buy Chelsea FC?

One report said that the alleged poisoning had been orchestrated by Russian radicals who wanted to sabotage the talks.

Shortly after the allegations emerged, an unnamed US official was quoted by Reuters, according to the BBC, as saying that intelligence suggested that the men's symptoms were due to "environmental" factors, rather than poisoning.

And later an official in the Ukrainian president's office, Ihor Zhovkva, told the BBC that although he had not spoken to Mr. Abramovich, the members of the Ukrainian delegation were "fine" and one had said that the story was "false."

Abramovich traveled between Lviv, Moscow and other capitals in his efforts to mediate between the Russian and Ukrainian governments, and although he met with Volodimir Zelensky, the Ukrainian president was not affected, his spokesman confirmed to the WSJ, quoted by Euronews.

The sources revealed that it is difficult to determine whether the possible poisoning was caused by a chemical or biological agent, or by electromagnetic radiation.

The incident sheds light on Abramovich's alleged role as a broker in the Ukraine-Russia talks. The exact nature of his position is unclear, but a spokesman for the oligarch said earlier that his influence was "limited."

Share this article