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US Tourists Poisoned with Thallium
Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) carried out the first interrogation of 49-year-old Marina Kovalevskaya and her 26-year-old daughter Yana, who were hospitalized to the Sklifosovsky Institute for Emergency Medical Aid. Doctors found the women were poisoned with thallium sulphates. FSB thinks the poisoning is an attempt to cover up theft traces: the victims’ jewellery was stolen.
Marina and Yana Kovalevskaya emigrated from the USSR to the U.S. in mid-1980s, and settled in Los Angeles. However, they often visited Moscow to see their relatives and friends. Their last visit to Russia began in February. They were staying in Grand Marriott hotel.
The women felt unwell after a party on February 23. Marina Kovalevskaya called American Clinic next morning at 5 a.m. and complained that she and her daughter “have strong pain and numbness in their legs”.
Then they were brought to American Medical Center by ambulance. Yet, the Center’s doctors could not make the precise diagnosis. So, they had to ask help of their Russian colleagues from the Sklifosovsky Institute for Emergency Medical Aid. Russian doctors discovered that the mother and daughter were “intoxicated with poison affecting mainly the central nervous system”. The doctors found it was thallium, which begins affecting a human being about a week or two after it gets into the system.
FSB believes the poisoning of Kovalevskaya mother and daughter is linked to the theft of “some valuable things” of the women. Investigators tried to carry out the first interrogation. However, one patient said they might have been poisoned in the hotel, while another said it was at one of the parties they visited. FSB and police are now checking the entire circle of Marina and Yana’s contacts in Moscow.
www.kommersant.ru
All the Article in Russian as of Mar. 07, 2007
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