Ukraine - Viktor Yushchenko was poisoned

Like many other people I have been following with a mixture of horror, excitement and fascination the events as they unfold in Ukraine. However, my knowledge of that country is so sparse that I have felt it pointless to comment here. One aspect of what has been going on there which has interested me greatly are the allegations and/or suspicions that Viktor Yushchenko, the opposition leader, had been deliberately poisoned; this is said to account for the remarkable change in his face in a very short space of time.

The first report I have read about this, on the AOL news service, is here; so far I can find no other corroborating reports to link to, although another report, from MSNBC, also apparently from the same Vienna medical institute (but quoting a different official), denies that they have established that he was poisoned deliberately. According to the first lot of Austrian specialists, though, there is now no doubt that he was poisoned, quite deliberately, although they have not yet established precisely what kind of poison was used or exactly how it was administered. Helpfully, the article includes before and after images of Mr Yushchenko; the change is nothing short of extraordinary.

Also not ascertained is who may have done this to him - although the list of candidates (through their agents, no doubt) that springs to my mind is not long. The US is [at last] beginning to react negatively and in public to what seem to be Russia's attempts to regain control over its erstwhile empire [possibly by fair means, or foul - my view], and to restrict democratic freedoms at home - see this report of remarks made by US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, during an OSCE meeting in Bulgaria.