December 12, 2004

In the Soup

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The Telegraph reports: Hunt starts for Yushchenko's poisoner.

Viennese doctors said at the weekend that tests showed Mr Yuschenko had ingested a near-fatal dose of dioxin, probably in his food or drink.

Confirmation that he was poisoned is likely to improve his chances in the [Ukranian presidential election] run-off. Doctors have given him the go-ahead to return to the campaign trail but said it may be years before his face returns to normal.

The disclosure that Mr Yushchenko had ingested dioxin, an extremely rare poison, has increased suspicion that the regime of the outgoing president, Leonid Kuchma, which had the most to gain from his demise, may have been involved.

Mr Yushchenko fell mysteriously ill in September after a late dinner at the country house of Volodymyr Satysuk, the first deputy chairman of the SBU, Ukraine's intelligence service and the successor to the KGB.

Other senior security officials were present including Ihor Smeshko, the head of the SBU. Mr Yushchenko began suffering agonising abdominal pains the day after the dinner. He partially recovered but his face has been left bloated, covered in lesions and turned bluish-grey.

BOOK UPDATE: At the moment of this post, our new book Black & White World II was ranked 1,437 at Barnes & Noble.com. B&N has promised faster delivery than Amazon.com, which likely accounts for the big ranking difference between them. The book's rank has jumped up and down quite a bit since it went on line, but this is the highest we've been on either one.

Posted by Forkum at December 12, 2004 08:23 PM
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