The Insider, a group of investigative journalists, interviewed Russian journalists and activists who suspect they were poisoned.
Journalists and opposition activists who fled Russia have been poisoned in Europe.
This is reported by an independent Russian publication of investigative journalism The Insiderwhich has previously cooperated with, for example, Der Spiegel magazine and the Bellingcat organization.
The Insider interviewed journalists and activists who suspect they were poisoned. In addition, the publication evaluates the circumstances of the poisonings with several experts.
Since October of last year, several Russian activists and journalists have been poisoned, such as the editor of Novaya Gazeta and Meduza Yelena KostyuchenkoEho Moskvyn reporter Irina Babloyan and director of the Free Russia Foundation Natalia Arno.
They had no idea that they could be targeted by the Kremlin abroad
The women were poisoned at different times in different places. According to The Insider, representatives of the Russian opposition were probably poisoned during business trips in hotels or restaurants.
The interviewees report that they experienced unexplained symptoms, such as nausea, numbness of the limbs, metallic taste in the mouth and stomach pains, but did not know that the symptoms were caused by poisoning.
After the poisoning, Kostyuchenko, Babloyan and Arno did not immediately seek treatment because they thought the symptoms were due to illness or allergies.
Suspicions of poisoning of the women arose after the doctors who examined them could not find a reasonable explanation for the symptoms.
There are a lot of ambiguities associated with poisoning investigations
The Insider asked independent experts to assess the likelihood of poisoning.
It is difficult to detect traces of poisoning afterwards. In the case of the interviewees, poisoning is likely, experts say.
The Insider reports that there are many uncertainties surrounding the poisoning investigations.
Journalist Kostyuchenko was probably poisoned in a restaurant in Munich in October 2022.
Two months later, Kostyuchenko filed a criminal complaint with the German police about the poisoning. The journalist asked that traces of poisons be examined with blood tests.
Blood samples were taken from Kostyuchenko, but the blood was only tested for alcohol, medicine and drug concentrations.
The authorities later suspended the investigation.
According to The Insider, a hospital source revealed that signs of poisoning were found during blood tests on Kostyuchenko, but the amounts were too small to draw a clear conclusion.
In the case of Natalia Arno, doctors have confirmed that the activist was probably poisoned with a nerve agent in Prague, Czech Republic. For now, it is unclear which poison it was.
Nerve agents include, for example, novichok, which Russia’s most famous opposition activist used Alexei Navlnyi was poisoned.
The nerve agent was used against the opposition, journalists and ex-agents
Navalny was poisoned with the Novichok nerve agent in August 2020 before he received a prison sentence in Russia.
The Russian security service FSB is suspected of being behind the poisoning.
In addition to Navalny, numerous critics of the Russian leadership have been the target of suspected poisonings over the years.
For example, a Russian journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza lapsed into a coma twice after suspected poisoning in 2017, reporter Anna Politkovskaya narrowly survived poisoning on a plane in 2004 and an ex-agent Sergei Skripal a nerve agent was applied to the door handle in 2018.