The Chelsea FC owner is understood to have been acting as a “peacekeeper” in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. After a meeting in Kyiv earlier this month, he, along with those present during talks, “suffered symptoms of suspected poisoning”, reported Vincent Lee of Bloomberg today, on Monday, citing the Wall Street Journal. US intelligence suggests, however, Abramovich became sick due to “environmental” factors, not poisoning.
Mr Lee said in a post on Twitter: “Roman Abramovich and Ukrainian peace negotiators suffered symptoms of suspected poisoning after a meeting in Kyiv earlier this month, people familiar with the matter said.”
The symptoms included red eyes, constant, painful tearing and skin peeling on the face and hands, according to the sources.
They added at least two senior members of the Ukrainian negotiation team suffered these symptoms alongside Mr Abramovich.
These included Ukrainian MP Rustem Umerov.
The conditions of all involved are reported to have improved since.
Their lives are not in danger.
Mr Lee added that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has met with Mr Abramovich, was not affected.
It has not been confirmed who – if reports of poisoning are correct – is behind the act.
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Bellingcat added: “[The next day] a Bellingcat investigator was asked to help provide an examination by chemical weapons specialists.
“Based on remote and on-site examinations, the experts concluded that the symptoms are most likely the result of international poisoning with an undefined chemical weapon.”
After being hit by sanctions from the West, Mr Abramovich has been acting as a go-between between Mr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin.
Last Wednesday, he handed a handwritten note from the Ukrainian President to Putin, outlining the terms Ukraine would consider agreeing to to end the war, according to the Times.
Putin, the paper added, initially responded: “Tell him I will thrash them.”
Despite this response, some progress is understood to be being made in ongoing talks.
Mr Abramovich has seen his assets frozen across Britain and the Continent, and is also trying to sell his London property portfolio. However, his yachts and jets, worth hundreds of millions of pounds, remain out of bounds as they are outside sanctioned waters and airspace.
If operatives connected to Putin have indeed tried to poison Mr Abramovich, it would be the latest poisoning attack to be linked to his regime, following the attack on democracy campaigner Alexander Navalny in 2020, and the Novichok attack in Salisbury, which resulted in the death of Dawn Sturgess in 2018.
More than a month after Putin ordered a full-scale invasion on February 24, Mr Zelensky appeared to offer an olive branch in an interview with independent Russian journalists in which he said he might now be ready for concessions to prevent further bloodshed.
This would include never becoming a nuclear state, staying ‘neutral’ and not joining either the EU or NATO.
He said: “Security guarantees and neutrality, a non-nuclear status of our state. We are ready to go for it.”
Nevertheless, President Zelensky stressed that his priorities would still be sovereignty and territorial integrity at the next round of negotiations with Russia.