Russian activist ‘may have been poisoned’

AN ACTIVIST from Russian protest group Pussy Riot who staged a pitch invasion during the 2018 football World Cup final in Moscow has been hospitalised with suspected poisoning, members of the punk collective said yesterday.

Pyotr Verzilov was admitted to hospital following a court hearing on Tuesday, his girlfriend Veronika Nikulshina, also a Pussy Riot member, told local media.

“His eyesight was going. First we dismissed it as fatigue but then it got worse and he lost the power of speech,” Ms Nikulshina told Ekho Moskvy radio. “He didn’t recognise me anymore, he didn’t react. I am not ruling out the possibility that it could be connected to outside interference.”

Mr Verzilov was transferred to Moscow’s Sklifosovsky trauma hospital, which has an intensive care unit for poisoning cases. He was said to be in a “serious condition”.

Ms Nikulshina said her partner, who also works at the independent news site Mediazona, which focuses on prisons, had not taken drugs.

Ms Nikulshina and Mr Verzilov served 15-day jail sentences with two other Pussy Riot members for running onto the pitch during the July 15 World Cup final in a protest they said was aimed at highlighting abuses by Russian police.

He was present in court on Tuesday when two other Pussy Riot members, including Ms Nikulshina, were sentenced on charges of disobeying a police officer.

Ms Nikulshina received a sentence of two days in jail but was released on time served.