Terrified Roman Abramovich ‘asked “are we dying?” after being poisoned with deadly WWI chemical agent’ in Ukraine
A TERRIFIED Roman Abramovich asked if he was going to die after he was poisoned with a deadly WWI chemical agent, reports claim.
The billionaire oligarch is said to have gone blind for several hours and skin peeled off his hands and face after he joined peace talks to end the war between Russia and Ukraine.
The sanctioned Chelsea owner, 55, suffered the alarming symptoms along with two Ukrainian peace negotiators, after reportedly eating poisoned chocolates.
According to new analysis, Abramovich was poisoned with World War One chemical warfare agent chloropicrin or a low dosage of novichok.
The alleged attack was blamed on hardliners in Moscow who want to sabotage peace talks and continue Vladimir Putin's bloody war against Ukraine.
The symptoms he suffered were so severe that one stage he feverishly asked scientists examining him “are we dying?”, one person present
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Abramovich has been trying to broker a deal to end the war and it was reported he was poisoned while in Kyiv talking to Ukrainian officials.
A bleary-eyed Abramovich was pictured for the first time since the claim emerged, at a fresh round of peace talks taking place in Istanbul, which began on Tuesday.
The claim about the use of chloropicrin has come from investigative journalist Christo Grozev.
He has led research into the alleged attack and gathered specialists to explain what had happened.
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Grozov has now told the Popular Politics YouTube channel that all the experts had agreed on the most likely source of their symptoms.
The substance is a chemical warfare agent used in World War One and stockpiled in World War Two.
“All the experts....said this was not a coincidence, not food poisoning, not an allergy," he said.
“They also all agreed that the only way to detect the agent was to bring these people to a laboratory, or to send their blood sample to a laboratory with means to detect war agents.”
It comes as...
- Russia has said it is to “drastically reduce” forces near the Ukrainian capital Kyiv as its invasion continues to falter.
- Putin “must think we were born yesterday” if he thinks Britain believes his troops are pulling out of Kyiv.
- A suspected arms depot was allegedly hit by a Ukrainian missile, sparking firework-like explosions.
- Russia has reportedly lost a seventh colonel since the start of fighting in another major blow to Putin's army.
- Putin has re-opened Bond-villain style military bases deep inside the Arctic Circle.
- Chechnya's fighters arrived in Ukraine with a fearsome reputation, but have faced bloody slaughter on the battlefield, reports claim.
- Paranoid Putin and his inner circle are reportedly living in top-secret nuclear bunkers as the bloody war unfolds in Ukraine.
He was asked: “Which agent did they all agree on?”
Grozev replied: “Сhlorpicrin - this is the agent giving nearly all of the detected symptoms.
“The only minus of that hypothesis was that chlorpicrin usually emits quite a strong smell, which means it is quite hard to give it without it being noticed.
“But then one of the specialists said there were developments of this agent - without smell.
“Other suggestions even included a low dosage of novichok, which could have led to these symptoms according to one really knowledgeable expert.”
What is Chloropicrin?
The substance is more commonly used in agriculture but also has a more sinister use as a chemical weapon or as tear gas.
Chloropicrin is a dense, pale yellow liquid that causes intense irritation in the eyes and tears to flow when it comes into contact with humans.
Scottish chemist and inventor John Stenhouse first synthesised chloropicrin in 1848.
It was used by the Germans in World War I as it could bypass gas masks and cause irritation, forcing soldiers to take off their protectors.
They would then be hit with other gases such as chlorine.
Breathing chloropicrin can result in coughing and a severe shortness of breath.
A higher dose can cause a pulmonary oedema, a potentially fatal build up fluid on the lungs.
Novichok was used in the poisoning of GRU double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia at his home in Salisbury.
Grozev works for British investigators Bellingcat and independent Russian media platforms.
He said he had been called in around March 3 to examine the case because he had knowledge of previous poisonings.
It comes after Vladimir Putin reportedly told Abramovich he would “thrash” Ukraine when the oligarch tried to broker a peace deal.
The Chelsea owner reportedly flew to Moscow to meet the Russian tyrant but was rebuffed with the chilling warning to Kyiv.
He flew to Moscow last week to present Putin with a handwritten note from Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky.
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The note outlined the terms Ukraine would accept to end the war but Putin was unmoved.
“Tell him I will thrash them,” was the Kremlin strongman’s response to the Ukrainian president.
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