Putin told ‘poisoned’ Abramovich he would ‘thrash’ Ukraine in chilling warning over peace talks
VLADIMIR Putin told Roman Abramovich he would “thrash” Ukraine when the oligarch tried to broker a peace deal.
The Chelsea owner - who had been poisoned after previously joining peace talks - reportedly flew to Moscow to meet the Russian tyrant but was rebuffed with the chilling warning to Kyiv.
Reports claimed the billionaire was poisoned and went blind for several hours and skin peeled off his hands and face after he joined peace talks between Russia and Ukraine at the beginning of March.
But despite that it he flew to Moscow last week to present Putin with a handwritten note from Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky,
The note outlined the terms Ukraine would accept to end the war but Putin was unmoved.
“Tell him I will thrash them,” was the Kremlin strongman’s response to the Ukrainian president.
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The sanctioned Chelsea owner, 55, has been shuttling between his home in Israel and Moscow, Turkey and Ukraine.
Earlier this month he was pictured looking dishevelled at Tel Airport before heading to Turkey and Russia.
He is said to have suffered alarming symptoms along with two Ukrainian peace negotiators, after reportedly eating poisoned chocolates at the peace talks.
The alleged attack was blamed on hardliners in Moscow who want to sabotage the talks and continue Putin's bloody war, although some said Abramovich may have been poisoned by mistake.
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Symptoms included red eyes, constant and painful tearing, and peeling skin on their faces and hands, reports the .
Abramovich also lost his sight for several hours as a result of the attack in the Ukraine capital Kyiv earlier this month, according to The Guardian.
Abramovich, plus two Ukrainians, MP Rustem Umerov and another negotiator, began experiencing searing eye pain following a peace meeting on March 3.
They had consumed only chocolate and water in the hours before.
A fourth member of the team did not fall ill, despite having the same food and drink as them.
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Next day they travelled to Lviv then Poland to continue talks while still suffering painful symptoms.
When they headed to Istanbul, Abramovich complained of losing his vision, with skin peeling from his face and hands.
He was then treated in hospital.
The trio’s symptoms were said to have subsided by the end of the following week.
His spokesperson confirmed that he suffered symptoms of suspected poisoning.
Ex-chemical weapons colonel Hamish de Bretton-Gordon claimed the poisoning “had all the hallmarks of the Russian secret service” — and Abramovich may have been attacked by mistake.
He said: “We understand the negotiators were poisoned with organophosphates which is the base chemical in nerve agents.”
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The investigative website found that the dosage and type of toxin used against the trio was "likely insufficient" to cause life-threatening damage.
Instead, the attack was meant to "scare" the victims.
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