Six Russians – including two members of Vladimir Putin’s United Russia Party – have died after apparently being poisoned in the occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol.
And the search is on for a mysterious courier who brought the ground food and drinks which contained deadly arsenic – before disappearing without a trace.
The reports were carried on the Ukrainian news website DonPress, which suggested four of the six were “important guests from Moscow”, while the other two were members of United Russia.
The report claimed: “It seems that saboteurs have become more active in the city again. But now their victims were not the military, but the organisers of Putin’s elections.”
The victims were found “a few days ago” in an apartment in the southern city, which was the subject of a brutal Russian siege at the start of Putin’s invasion almost two years ago.
The four Muscovites were “most political activists”, including central Election Commission employees, who were visiting to “check the work of local election commissions”. Putin is preparing for next month’s presidential election which will almost certainly see him installed as Russia’s leader for six more years.
The report continued: “All the dead were poisoned by food and beer, which were delivered to them from one of the city’s restaurants, the publication claims.
“Lethal doses of arsenic were added to food and drinks; unfortunately, no one survived after this dinner.
“The restaurant where the food was delivered from was checked and no traces of poison were found.
“But the courier who delivered the poisoned lunch and beer allegedly disappeared without a trace.”
Two of the six dead – four men and two women – were tasked with working in Mariupol during the elections, with the guests from Moscow coming to give them final instructions.
The report concluded: “In order not to disrupt the voting process and spread panic, all the bodies were urgently removed from Mariupol.
“Four of the dead were buried in Donetsk, two bodies were sent to Moscow.”
There is no indication so far as to who is behind the poisoning. Mariupol suffered enormous casualties as a result of Russia’s bombardment, with multiple accusations of brutality.
