Abramovich and Ukrainian MP may have been poisoned this month

The latest round of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, set to begin in Istanbul on Tuesday, have been overshadowed by claims that the Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich and other members of an informal Russian-Ukrainian negotiating group suffered symptoms consistent with poisoning during an informal round of talks earlier this month.

The allegations surfaced on the eve of the first face-to-face peace talks in weeks, amid fears that the Kremlin was not ready to compromise, despite the stiff resistance its forces have encountered since the invasion began.

The poisoning claims were first reported in the Wall Street Journal and by the investigative journalism outlet Bellingcat, although a US official told Reuters on Monday evening the evidence did not point to poisoning.

A source with direct knowledge of the incident claimed to the Guardian that Abramovich, the billionaire former Chelsea owner, was taking part in informal negotiations in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, early in March when he began to feel ill.

According to the source, the Ukrainian MP Rustem Umerov was also part of the negotiation, and the men later left Ukraine for Poland, and then flew to Istanbul, where they received medical treatment.

Earlier, Bellingcat issued a statement saying it believed the three men had been the victim of a suspected poisoning.

Bellingcat said the symptoms included eye and skin inflammation, and piercing pain in the eyes, and added that the three men recovered quickly. They left Kyiv the next day, drove to Poland, and then flew to Istanbul.

The tests showed that if the illness had been caused by poisoning, it was unlikely to have been at a dosage intended to kill, Bellingcat said.

Much about the story remains murky.

A source in Moscow said Abramovich had had personal meetings with both Zelenskiy and Putin over the past month and had travelled to Istanbul on Monday to take part in the talks there.

A new round of peace negotiations was due to begin in Istanbul on Tuesday.