In an alleged assassination attempt, a top military official of Russian President Vladimir Putin was poisoned by a letter laced with an unknown toxic, according to RadarOnline.com.
Two aides and Major-General Apti Alaudinov were hospitalized on Feb. 8 after opening the supposed letter with a “strong-smelling chemical” substance.
The Daily Star reported the top general survived by “clean[ing] his hands and wash[ing] his nasal cavity.”
The head of Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, confirmed the report in a press release last weekend:
"Our dear brother, Apti Alaudinov, was poisoned a few days ago,” said Kadyrov in the statement, reported by RadarOnline.com. “There is an investigation of the assassination attempt … All the poisoned were admitted to a medical unit ... Now General Alaudinov and both adjutants are in a Moscow clinic and are on the mend.”
A similar attempt against the head of Russian state media, Margarita Simonyan, occurred just one day before, according to RadarOnline.com.
Simonyan claims she received a “suspicious” package, but experts found it was not a threat, although she maintains otherwise and is under “state protection,” reported RadarOnline.com.
The report comes on the heels of another alleged assassination attempt involving a pro-Putin musician who was shot in the head.
The musician was 36-year-old Igor Mangushev, who waived the skull of a dead Ukrainian on a stage last August. The execution is believed to have been carried out by the Wagner Private Military Company, of which he was a part.
His wife said, “According to doctors it was a blind gunshot wound, a bullet lodged in his brain, presumably a 9mm pistol bullet. There has still been no investigation. Not even a criminal case has been opened … this was an attempted murder,” reported RadarOnline.com.