Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Russian opposition politician and prominent Kremlin critic, has been placed in a medically induced coma after suffering organ failure caused by poison, his wife has said.
Kara-Murza was admitted to an intensive-care unit in Moscow last week in a critical condition. At the time, his wife, Yevvgenia, told Radio Free Europe he had "low blood pressure" and "respiratory insufficiency".
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
She has since said he suffered "severe intoxication by an unknown substance". Samples of his blood, hair and fingernails have been sent for testing in France and Israel.
Kara-Murza fell ill while taking a train ride from the Siberian city of Tver, according to the Daily Beast's Michael Weiss. Kara-Murza had just screened a film about former deputy prime minister Boris Nemtsov, a political opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Nemtsov was shot dead near the Kremlin in February 2015.
"Putin's enemies have had a bad habit over the years of ingesting things they shouldn’t, from dioxin to polonium to killer flowers," says Weiss.
In May 2015, Kara-Murza was diagnosed with acute kidney failure and tests found high levels of heavy metals in his blood, but no criminal case was opened. "The symptoms are apparently similar to those that were then," said his lawyer of Kara-Murza's current condition.
The 2015 poisoning came just "three months after Nemstov was murdered, in a case that could be compared to that of former KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko in the UK", says Buzzfeed News. An exhaustive British inquiry into Litvinenko's death determined that Putin had likely ordered the murder through the use of polonium, a radioactive isotope.
Many eyes are now on US President Donald Trump to see how he responds to the Kara-Murzas' claims.
"Kara-Murza is the sort of freedom fighter that the United States has always defended," says the Washington Post, and if Trump does nothing on his behalf it will show his administration is "ready to appease Mr Putin at the price of American values".
-
What to know before filing your own taxes for the first timethe explainer Tackle this financial milestone with confidence
-
The biggest box office flops of the 21st centuryin depth Unnecessary remakes and turgid, expensive CGI-fests highlight this list of these most notorious box-office losers
-
The 10 most infamous abductions in modern historyin depth The taking of Savannah Guthrie’s mother, Nancy, is the latest in a long string of high-profile kidnappings
-
Greenland’s capital becomes ground zero for the country’s diplomatic straitsIN THE SPOTLIGHT A flurry of new consular activity in Nuuk shows how important Greenland has become to Europeans’ anxiety about American imperialism
-
What happens now that the US-Russia nuclear treaty is expiring?TODAY’S BIG QUESTION Weapons experts worry that the end of the New START treaty marks the beginning of a 21st-century atomic arms race
-
Epstein files topple law CEO, roil UK governmentSpeed Read Peter Mandelson, Britain’s former ambassador to the US, is caught up in the scandal
-
Iran and US prepare to meet after skirmishesSpeed Read The incident comes amid heightened tensions in the Middle East
-
Which way will Trump go on Iran?Today’s Big Question Diplomatic talks set to be held in Turkey on Friday, but failure to reach an agreement could have ‘terrible’ global ramifications
-
Israel retrieves final hostage’s body from GazaSpeed Read The 24-year-old police officer was killed during the initial Hamas attack
-
China’s Xi targets top general in growing purgeSpeed Read Zhang Youxia is being investigated over ‘grave violations’ of the law
-
Ukraine, US and Russia: do rare trilateral talks mean peace is possible?Rush to meet signals potential agreement but scepticism of Russian motives remain
