Mother of Russian opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza reportedly hospitalized

Meduza.io

Update: Vladimir Kara-Murza wrote on Telegram that the suspicions that his mother was poisoned or had a heart attack “were not confirmed.” “The doctors are continuing their examinations. We kindly ask journalists to respect our family’s privacy during this time,” he said.

Yelena Gordon, the mother of Russian opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza, has been hospitalized in Berlin with symptoms of suspected poisoning, Agentstvo Media reports, citing two of Kara-Murza’s colleagues.

Gordon has reportedly been taken to Berlin’s Charité hospital. An initial test for chemical nerve agents came back negative, according to Agentstvo.

The Berlin police said in a statement that they are investigating an attempted murder involving a woman who was hospitalized at Charité, though they did not disclose the victim’s name.

“The woman informed the clinic’s staff that she suspected she had been poisoned,” the statement reads. It also says the victim was transferred to an isolation unit in the hospital, where blood samples were taken to test for all types of toxic substances.

Vladimir Kara-Murza has survived two poisonings himself, in May 2015 and February 2017. An investigation by Bellingcat and The Insider revealed that the Russian FSB unit behind the 2020 poisoning of Alexey Navalny also likely organized both poisoning attacks against Kara-Murza.

Kara-Murza was released in this summer’s historic prisoner exchange between Moscow and Western countries after spending over two years in a Russian prison for opposing the war in Ukraine.

Vladimir Kara-Murza’s post-prison life

• Exiled opposition, unite? Yulia Navalnaya, Vladimir Kara-Murza, and Ilya Yashin join forces to hold anti-war demonstration in Berlin
• ‘I see it as an illegal expulsion against my will’ Newly freed Russian opposition politicians Vladimir Kara-Murza, Ilya Yashin, and Andrei Pivovarov hold first press conference since their release
• Finally free Photos from the hospital where Vladimir Kara-Murza, Ilya Yashin, and other political prisoners released by Moscow were sent after arriving in Germany