Yuschenko Poisoned - Confirmed

Doctors at the Rudolfinerhaus clinic that treated Viktor Yuschenko confirm there was a plot to kill him, according to the Times of London.

MEDICAL experts have confirmed that Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine’s opposition leader, was poisoned in an attempt on his life during election campaigning, the doctor who supervised his treatment at an Austrian clinic said yesterday.

Doctors at Vienna’s exclusive Rudolfinerhaus clinic are within days of identifying the substance that left Mr Yushchenko’s face disfigured with cysts and lesions, Nikolai Korpan told The Times in a telephone interview.

Specialists in Britain, the United States and France had helped to establish that it was a biological agent, a chemical agent or, most likely, a rare poison that struck him down in the run-up to the presidential election, he said. Doctors needed to examine Mr Yushchenko again at the clinic in Vienna to confirm their diagnosis but were in no doubt that the substance was administered deliberately, he said.

“This is no longer a question for discussion,” Dr Korpan said. “We are now sure that we can confirm which substance caused this illness. He received this substance from other people who had a specific aim.”

Asked if the aim had been to kill him, Dr Korpan said: “Yes, of course.”

So much for the anti-Yuschenko propaganda that the disfigurement was due to "bad sushi" a virus, stress or the brilliant observations of CodeBlue who does some fancy footwork to 'prove' that Yuschenko is an alcoholic.

Con Coughlin of the Telegraph met with Yuschenko on Saturday and posted this:

The man who was once described as the Bill Clinton of eastern Europe for his charisma and good looks is now horribly disfigured by an attempt to poison him during the political battle for control of his country.

As he sat in the office of his wood-panelled dacha in the suburbs of Kiev on Saturday, Mr Yushchenko vowed to expose all the details of the plot that has left his face scarred with pock marks and a complexion the colour of dark blue bruising.

Though the disfigurement is still shocking, especially to those of us who know Viktor (who is, BTW, a tea with honey from his own beehives sort of guy) the primary concern is not his face but his health. And fortunately, that is most definitely on the mend.