{"id":1407110,"date":"2022-03-29T11:59:47","date_gmt":"2022-03-29T15:59:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1407110"},"modified":"2022-03-29T11:59:50","modified_gmt":"2022-03-29T15:59:50","slug":"ukraine-u-s-intelligence-deny-rumors-peace-negotiators-were-poisoned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ukraine-u-s-intelligence-deny-rumors-peace-negotiators-were-poisoned\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine, U.S. Intelligence Deny Rumors Peace Negotiators Were Poisoned"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fukraine-u-s-intelligence-deny-rumors-peace-negotiators-were-poisoned%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1407110&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><\/div>\n<p class=\"subheading\"><span>Both U.S. and Ukrainian officials on Monday denied an unsubstantiated rumor that negotiators working to end the war in Ukraine, including Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, were poisoned this month.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The poisoning rumor was detailed by \u201cpeople familiar with the matter\u201d in a Monday report by the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/roman-abramovich-and-ukrainian-peace-negotiators-suffer-symptoms-of-suspected-poisoning-11648480493\"><i><span>Wall Street Journal<\/span><\/i><\/a> <span>(WSJ), which cited an investigation by the open-source journalism collective called <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bellingcat.com\/\"><span>Bellingcat<\/span><\/a><span>:<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<blockquote>\n<p><span>Mr. Abramovich, Ukrainian lawmaker Rustem Umerov and another negotiator developed symptoms following the March 3 meeting in Kyiv that included red eyes, constant and painful tearing, and peeling skin on their faces and hands, the people said. Mr. Abramovich has shuttled between Moscow, Belarus and other negotiating venues since Russia invaded Ukraine.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Mr. Abramovich was blinded for a few hours and later had trouble eating, according to a person familiar with the matter.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Some of the people familiar with the matter blamed the suspected attack on hard-liners in Moscow who they said wanted to sabotage talks to end the war. A person close to Mr. Abramovich said it wasn\u2019t clear who had targeted the group.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span>The <\/span><i><span>WSJ\u2019s <\/span><\/i><span>sources said everyone involved has \u201cimproved\u201d over the past four weeks and \u201ctheir lives aren\u2019t in danger.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The alleged sources added that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was not affected by the alleged attack, which \u201cWestern experts\u201d speculated could have been carried out with anything from chemical weapons to biological agents or electromagnetic energy, as with the long-rumored \u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/news\/us-intelligence-says-directed-energy-could-explain-havana-syndrome\/\"><span>Havana Syndrome<\/span><\/a><span>\u201d illness experienced by U.S. diplomats in several postings around the world.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The Bellingcat inquiry was led by Christo Grozev, who also investigated the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/news\/west-pushes-russia-for-answers-on-navalny-poisoning\/\"><span>chemical weapons attack<\/span><\/a><span> on Russian dissident Alexei Navalny in 2020. Grozev said that the diplomats who allegedly became ill in Kyiv could not be examined quickly or thoroughly enough to definitively establish that they were poisoned. He felt that given the relatively mild symptoms, if the negotiators were maliciously attacked in some way, it was \u201cjust a warning.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p><span>The <\/span><i><span>WSJ <\/span><\/i><span>felt that warning might have been primarily directed at Abramovich, a half-Ukrainian billionaire with ties to Russian leader Vladimir Putin who has been working independently to negotiate a peace deal with Ukraine. The poisoning theory suggests \u201chard-liners\u201d loyal to Putin and eager for the war to continue are unhappy with Abramovich\u2019s efforts.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/2022\/03\/28\/russia-ukraine-war-news-putin-live-updates\/#link-QXAA5AAIWNDNNEG3CNP6VAHKGA\"><i><span>Washington Post<\/span><\/i><\/a> <span>on Monday quoted an unnamed associate of Abramovich who suspected a \u201cthird party,\u201d persons not directly controlled by the Russian government, carried out the alleged attack. This source, like those quoted by the <\/span><i><span>WSJ, <\/span><\/i><span>said Abramovich has fully recovered and is \u201cokay.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Mykhailo Podoliak, an adviser to President Zelensky, on Monday <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KyivIndependent\/status\/1508493753958477835\"><span>dismissed<\/span><\/a><span> the <\/span><i><span>WSJ <\/span><\/i><span>report and Bellingcat allegations as \u201cspeculation\u201d and insisted all of Ukraine\u2019s negotiators are \u201cworking as usual.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThere is a lot of information speculation, various conspiracy theories and elements of one or more information games,\u201d Podoliak <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/hromadske.ua\/posts\/u-abramovicha-ta-she-dvoh-uchasnikiv-peregovoriv-mizh-ukrayinoyu-ta-rf-buli-simptomi-otruyennya-himichnoyu-zbroyeyu-bellingcat\"><span>said<\/span><\/a><span>. \u201cTherefore, I will repeat once again: The members of the negotiating team are working full-time today.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Ukrainian media noted on Monday that one of the allegedly poisoned Ukrainian negotiators, Rustem Umerov, explicitly dismissed the poisoning rumor as \u201cyellow news\u201d and part of an \u201cinformation war\u201d on his <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/rustemumerov.ua\/posts\/391350146146665\"><span>Facebook page<\/span><\/a><span>. Umerov implied the poisoning rumor was the work of Russian propagandists.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>An unnamed U.S. official told <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/intelligence-suggests-environmental-factor-sickened-abramovich-ukrainian-2022-03-28\/\"><span>Reuters<\/span><\/a><span> on Monday that the illness experienced by Abramovich and the Ukrainian negotiators was probably \u201cnot poisoning.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThe intelligence highly suggests this was environmental,\u201d the official said, without elaborating further.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>During a nationally televised interview on Tuesday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/2022\/03\/29\/roman-abramovich-poison-turkey-talks-ukraine-russia\/\"><span>advised<\/span><\/a><span> his country\u2019s negotiators \u201cnot to eat or drink anything\u201d and \u201cpreferably avoid touching surfaces\u201d while meeting with the Russians.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Both U.S. and Ukrainian officials on Monday denied an unsubstantiated rumor that negotiators working to end the war in Ukraine, including Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, were poisoned this month. The<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1407110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1407110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1407110"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1407110\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1407110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1407110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1407110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}