2 Russian Exiles May Have Been Poisoned Abroad

It's become a familiar tale among critics of the Kremlin: Two more may have been poisoned in Germany. Police there have opened an investigation after two women became ill while attending a forum in Berlin last month organized by Russia critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky, reports Reuters. One is Natalia Arno, director of the NGO Free Russia Foundation, who wrote on social media that she returned to her hotel room and discovered the door ajar, per CNN. "I woke up at 5 am, suffering sharp pain and strange symptoms." Arno says her symptoms worsened in the following days, and she was treated at a hospital in Washington upon flying back to the US, per the Guardian.

“I have a suspicion that during my recent trip to Europe I was poisoned, probably by some nerve agent,” she wrote. The other woman is an unidentified journalist. Moscow has been accused of multiple poisonings, with high-profile cases involving Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza, notes dw.com. Also, a number of prominent Russian business leaders and politicians have died in unusual ways since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war, including falls from building windows. (More Russia stories.)