Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich suspects he may have been poisoned after a peace summit between Ukraine and Russia following its invasion.
The peace talks occurred at the Ukraine-Belarus border earlier this month.
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According to a Wall Street Journal report, Abramovich, who is selling London’s Chelsea football team after being hit with UK and EU sanctions for his close ties to Russian president Vladimir Putin, and two Ukrainian peace negotiators experienced sore eyes and peeling skin. However, after Abramovich’s claim became public, the U.S. and Ukrainian officials said no one from the Ukrainian side was affected.
The Wall Street Journal report, however, names Ukrainian MP Rustem Umerov, as one of the affected peace negotiators. The alleged incident is said to have occurred March 3 and all three men have recovered.
The BBC reported that Abramovich is continuing in his role as a negotiator. The billionaire has offered his help to Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy to deescalate the ongoing war. The president has asked the U.S. to postpone sanctioning Abramovich in the hopes of him being able to successfully help negotiate a peace agreement.
He reportedly met with Zelenskyy earlier in the month, but a spokesperson for the president said they were unaware of an incident involving poison.
Investigative journalism group Bellingcat, however, reported Abramovich’s — and the other men’s — injuries were “consistent with poisoning with chemical weapons.” Russia’s military intelligence has been connected to multiple nerve agent poisonings in the past. An unnamed source told the BBC the poisoning was a warning to those participating in the peace talks.
Russian and Ukrainian negotiators are set to meet again Tuesday in Istanbul, but it is unknown if Abramovich will attend.