Freeland monitoring suspected poisoning of Canadian Pussy Riot member

OTTAWA – Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland says she is taking a personal interest in the possible poisoning of a Canadian member of the Russian protest group Pussy Riot.

German doctors have been treating a Pyotr Verzilov, a Pussy Riot member, since he arrived in Berlin on the weekend from Moscow.

One physician told reporters on Tuesday that claims Verzilov was poisoned are “highly plausible.”

But doctors don’t know how it could have happened or who might be responsible.

Dr. Kai-Uwe Eckardt of Berlin’s Charite hospital told reporters that Verzilov’s condition is not life threatening.

Freeland said Tuesday that she spoke with Verzilov’s mother on Friday and assured his family he will have the government’s full support because he is a Canadian citizen.

“Pyotr’s situation is one that our government is following with very close interest and it is one that I am personally very closely engaged in,” she said Tuesday. “This is something we are monitoring very closely and we will act appropriately.”

Freeland has been a strong critic of the Russian government of Vladimir Putin for its invasion and annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula four years ago, its meddling in foreign elections and for the poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter in the British town of Salisbury.

Russia has banned Freeland from travelling to the country because of her past criticism of Putin in writings when she was a journalist.

— with files from the Associated Press

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