Russian activist ‘poisoned, presumably by nerve agent’ whereas on journey to Europe
The head of a global organisation combating for democracy in Russia says she thinks she was “poisoned, possibly by some nerve agent”.
Natalia Arno skilled “strange symptoms” whereas on a latest journey to Europe and on one event discovered the door to her room open when she returned to her resort.
A submit on Ms Arno’s social media says she awoke at 5am the following day in acute ache and determined to fly house on the earliest flight to the US, the place she has been recovering.
While it isn’t but confirmed what precipitated her situation, the submit says it’s being investigated – it is a story that conjures up reminiscences of the Novichok poisonings of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny and five people in Salisbury in 2018.
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Ms Arno, who was compelled to go away Russia attributable to her pro-democracy work, based the Free Russia Foundation in 2014.
Her Facebook submit says she was visiting two European cities in late April and early May when the signs began.
“In the second city, after a busy day of discussions and meetings, I returned to my hotel in the evening and found the door to my room slightly open,” the submit says.
“I checked my belongings and the room, I did not find any bugs, but immediately felt a foreign and sharp smell of cheap perfumes in the room.”
She left the resort to attend a gathering and when she returned the odor of fragrance had gone.
Five individuals – together with former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal – have been poisoned in Salisbury in March 2018
Ms Arno says in her submit that she complained to the receptionist who mentioned the maid had forgotten to shut the door.
At 5am the following morning she awoke in “acute pain” with “strange symptoms”. She swapped her flights and took an early journey again house to the US.
“During the flight, the symptoms became very strange, walking all over the body and with vivid numbness.”
She went to an emergency room “getting worse” and numerous medical doctors took blood samples, the submit says.
Alexei Navalny, a well known critic of Vladimir Putin, was poisoned with Novichok and recovered. He is now in jail in Russia
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Now two weeks later, she feels “much better” however nonetheless has some neuropathy signs, the submit says, as she waits for the outcomes of “various investigations” into what occurred.
She wrote: “As far as I understand it, this is not the first story of possible poisoning of Russian journalists and activists.
“And this isn’t the primary case with an open door in a resort when ‘the maid forgot to shut it’.
“I thought it was important to tell in more detail, because I wanted to warn our exiled anti-war, anti-regime, pro-democracy Russian community that we should not lose vigilance, even after leaving Russia, from a country that is waging an aggressive war against Ukraine… and does not forget about us.”