Abramovich, who accepted a Ukrainian request to help negotiate an end to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and at least two senior members of the Ukrainian group were affected, the WSJ report said.
Ukrainian officials poured cold water on the exhibition. Asked about the suspected poisoning, Ukrainian negotiator Mykhailo Podolyak said that “there are many speculations, various conspiracy theories”. Rustem Umerov, another member of the negotiating team, urged people not to trust “unverified information”.
The Kremlin did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to the WSJ report, Abramovich and the negotiators showed symptoms that included red eyes, persistent and painful tears, and peeling of the skin on their faces and hands.
Abramovich and Ukrainian negotiators, including Crimean Tatar lawmaker Umerov, have improved since then and their lives are not in danger, the WSJ reported.
A person familiar with the matter confirmed the incident to Reuters, but said Abramovich did not allow him to stop working.
Bellingcat said that the experts who examined the incident concluded that “poisoning with an unspecified chemical weapon” was the most probable cause.
Citing experts, Bellingcat said the dose and type of toxin used was not enough to be life-threatening, “and was probably intended to scare the victims rather than cause permanent harm. The victims said they did not know who might have been interested in an attack “.
Russian forces invaded Ukraine on February 24 in what President Vladimir Putin calls a “special military operation” to demilitarize Ukraine. Ukraine and the West say Putin has launched an unprovoked offensive war.
The Kremlin said Abramovich had played a role in early peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, but the process is now in the hands of negotiating teams on both sides. The two sides are set to meet in Istanbul on Tuesday for the first face-to-face peace talks in more than two weeks.
The West has imposed heavy sanctions on Russian billionaires such as Abramovich, Russian companies and Russian officials in a bid to force Putin to withdraw from Ukraine.
(Report by Catarina Demony, Natalia Zinets, David Gauthier-Villars, Mark Trevelyan and Abinaya Vijayaraghavan; Written by Abinaya Vijayaraghavan and Matthias Williams; Edited by Jon Boyle)
