I’m not saying Russia didn’t do this, but I’m struggling to understand what they could hope to gain from it. Were the Ukraine negotiators (plus Abramovich) so key to Ukraine’s resistance that the effort would have failed if they all died? And would the West really have just shrugged if that had happened, as opposed to taking it as a major escalation and responding accordingly?
Could someone please explain this part a little more?
Good luck getting those watches serviced once the internals start to wear out, or any part breaks.
In case you didn’t know, the watch manufacturers increasingly have a policy that their watches have to be returned to the factory for service. I am sure that they know all the serial numbers of watches sent to Russia.
If it was a faction in the Kremlin (as opposed to Putin himself) entirely opposed to peace talks, then they have effectively sabotaged them for the forseeable future. Why would Ukraine send more negotiators?
And of course, Putin could also have been looking to sabotage them.
Tobacco was the vice I developed in the Air Force 40 years ago, I hadn’t considered all those troops going cold turkey. But, yeah, we all had some exposure to alcohol before we joined but most of us weren’t full blown alcoholics during our first term. You need more practice for that.
I think that’s what Putin wanted at the start, back when he expected Ukraine to roll over and give up. Now his Army is being shown to the border, his troops are running away, his Generals are committing suicide rather than being sent to the front and his people want their Facebook and Big Macs. I think he’s now insane with rage and doesn’t care about the grain or what the world thinks. He just wants Ukraine GONE.
Why is Roman Abramovich sanctioned? He’s risking his life trying to negotiate peace.
OK, so Kireev was the one who poisoned the others and was executed for it? Sounds like the opening of a LeCarre novel.
Well, so much for actual medical proof. From the article it sounds like they were diagnosed only on their reported symptoms. And it was easier to get a third party to bring chemical warfare experts in than to get these guys to a hospital? It says no sophisticated lab, but couldn’t they have taken blood samples etc?
This just went from a great piece of evidence of Russian intentions to a he said she said situation.
Yes, good spot. So much info coming out of this war I actually forgot about this. 
From the sample pics, I would assume they will just chip out all the tiny diamonds on the watches to sell. Lose a lot of value that way.
This is probably one of those things we’ll never find out for decades, if at all. Russia won’t admit it and Ukraine has nothing to gain by admitting it.
I wish I could say I was surprised, but I’m not.
I don’t think Arnold or Stallone had body hair either. Bruce Willis was pretty hairy, tho.
I suspected this would happen. Just like Chechnya. The reports are horrific.
And not a single bit of body hair in evidence. Men no longer have chest hair it appears. 
True. Putin has to be able to claim a victory. Zelenskyy has offered to remain neutral and not join NATO for example. He could also concede all claims to Crimea, since that is a done deal anyway.
Yes. “This is my last Territorial demand”. Putin won’t stop until he is dead.
add on thought (armchair Sherlock Holmesing) … and there was suspiciously little “scandal” around the Ukr. shooting one of their own negotiators on the street… - normally that stuff is “headline-gold” for the tabloids
IIRC we even had a thread asking about how low key Denys K. went.
Sigh Anton Yelchin could have been perfect for this.
Which in no way encourages a company to pick up where they left off once the fighting’s stopped and the diplomats have done their thing.
It reminds me of that story a few years ago where a visitor let Putin try on his Superbowl ring, and never got it back.
Except that the people who said that it was poisoning with chemical weapons were two separate chemical weapons experts and a doctor.
Yeah, I only recently heard about that.
“I took out the ring and showed it to [Putin], and he put it on and he goes, ‘I can kill someone with this ring,’” Kraft said in 2013. “I put my hand out and he put it in his pocket, and three KGB guys got around him and walked out.”
Despite the fact that Putin walked off with the ring, Kraft still wanted the $25,000 piece of jewelry returned. However, he ended up giving up on his quest to get the ring back when White House called and told Kraft that starting World War III over a Super Bowl ring probably wouldn’t be the best idea.
“It would really be in the best interest of US-Soviet relations if you meant to give the ring as a present,” Kraft said he was told on the White House call in 2005. “I really didn’t [want to]. I had an emotional tie to the ring, it has my name on it. I don’t want to see it on eBay. There was a pause on the other end of the line, and the voice repeated, ‘It would really be in the best interest if you meant to give the ring as a present.’”
Heck, the Ukrainians should add returning the ring to their demands. Just so Putin can feel like he “won” when they relent on that demand.
Putin and the ring:
At this point I’m not sure Putin will feel like he won until he’s covered the earth in a second darkness.
Letting Vlad “feel like he won” is a questionabe strategy.