Russian politician who spoke out against Ukraine war POISONED, she reveals

A Russian opposition politician who spoke out against the war in Ukraine has been poisoned with a highly toxic substance, it has been found.

Elvira Vikhareva, 32, an outspoken critic of the Kremlin, shared tests with Russian news channel Sota that showed she had traces of potassium dichromate in her blood.

Ms Vikhareva said she started feeling unwell in November last year, with symptoms including hair loss, muscle spasms and severe abdominal pain lasting until February 2023.

It comes after a string of Moscow critics have been poisoned in recent years – the most prominent being de facto Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who nearly died after FSB agents smeared his underwear with novichok in August 2020.

She told TV Rain that she didn’t ask the police for help because it was clear that anyone in Russia who took an “anti-war stance” quickly became “enemy number one.”

It comes after a string of Moscow critics have been poisoned in recent years – the most prominent being de facto Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who nearly died after FSB agents smeared his underwear with novichok in August 2020. In the photo: Mr. Navalny, who is in a Russian penal colony prison

Miss Vikhareva said, “When the test results came back, the only sentence heard was, “How did you survive?”

“I don’t have any assumptions, but if someone has an anti-war stance and is in Russia and can express his opinion clearly about what is happening in Russia and Ukraine, then he is enemy number one.”

She said she didn’t ask the police for help because it would be like going to a “damned executioner.”

“I survived and I want my survival to harm those who were responsible,” she added.

Potassium dichromate, a compound used in wood treatment and photography, can damage organs and cause cancer, infertility and breathing difficulties. It is harmful in contact with skin.

Miss Vikhareva regularly hosts political shows on YouTube, which are still accessible in Russia, but stopped showing her face on camera because the poisoning had taken its “toll on her appearance.”

She said on social media that her body was “giving up” and she had to have constant doctor visits.

But she has since recovered, despite the poisoning, which has left her hands shaking, eyelashes falling out, and nails that “look like they’ve been run over by a train.”

Miss Vikhareva – who worked on election campaigns for Dmitry Gudkov, an exiled opposition politician – ran for the State Duma in 2021 but lost to a pro-Kremlin candidate amid widespread allegations of electoral fraud.

The Kremlin has a history of accusations against it of poisoning its opponents and exiling dissidents.

The Kremlin has a history of accusations against it for poisoning its opponents and exiling dissidents

Bellingcat, a group of investigative journalists, uncovered evidence that alleged Russian agents had poisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

Mr Navalny was rushed to a German hospital in a plane after falling ill on a domestic Russian flight in August 2020.

He recovered and returned to Russia, where he was convicted and sentenced for fraud on contempt of court charges which he described as “politically motivated.”

Former KGB agent and opposition activist Alexander Litvinenko died after being poisoned with polonium-210 in London in 2006.

In 2021, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the Kremlin was responsible for Mr Litvinenko’s death.

A public inquiry in the UK also found that he was killed in a Russian Federal Security Service operation “probably” authorized by Putin.

The Kremlin has always denied any involvement in Litvinenko’s death.

Mr Navalny was rushed to a German hospital in a plane after falling ill on a domestic Russian flight in August 2020.

Former KGB agent turned opposition activist Alexander Litvinenko died after being poisoned with polonium-210 in London in 2006