Chelsea Owner Roman Abramovich, Ukraine Peace Negotiators May Have Been Poisoned: Report

Their symptoms included red eyes, persistent and painful tearing, and peeling skin on their cheeks and hands.

Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich. (Source: Getty Images)

New Delhi: Sanctioned Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich and Ukrainian peace negotiators were reportedly "poisoned" that left their "skin peeling off" after peace talks with Russia in Kyiv, a report in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) said.

According to the WSJ, Abramovich, who accepted an Ukrainian request to assist in negotiations to end the Russian invasion, and at least two senior members of the Ukrainian team were affected. Among the others infected was Ukrainian politician Rustem Umerov.

Following a meeting in Ukraine's capital, Abramovich and the two senior Ukrainian negotiators developed symptoms including red eyes, painfully watery eyes, and peeling skin on their face and hands, the WSJ report said.

According to WSJ, Chelsea FC owner Abramovich and other Ukrainian negotiators' lives are not in danger and their conditions have since improved.

While it is not known who condcuted the attack, the WSJ report said those targeted blamed hardliners in Moscow seeking to sabotage peace talks.

According to the Kremlin, Abramovich had an early part in Russia-Ukraine peace negotiations, but the process is now in the hands of the two sides' negotiating teams.

A study earlier found that a Kremlin squad poisoned Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny with a nerve toxin in 2020, according to Christo Grozev, an investigator with the Bellingcat open-source organisation.

Grozev is allegedly said to have seen photographs of Abramovich and other Ukrainian negotiators' reactions to the purported poison attempt.

Grozev stated that the poisoning was "not intended to kill, but rather to serve as a warning." 

In 2018, former Russian intelligence officer Sergey Skripal was poisoned with a nerve agent in Salisbury. The poison was identified as the nerve agent Novichok, developed by the Soviet Union as part of a secret chemical weapons program.

(With inputs From agencies)