SUSPECTED SPIKING

Two Russian Exiles Possibly Poisoned in Berlin, Police Say

One of the potential victims said she thinks she was poisoned by a nerve agent in her hotel room.

German police have launched an investigation into the suspected poisoning of two Russian exiles who attended a conference organized by a Kremlin critic in Berlin, a spokesperson told CNN. The police said “poisoning is a possibility,” although there are “other potential causes too.” Due to ongoing investigations, the police did not name the exiles or give any further details. Reuters, pulling from Russian and German media coverage, reported that one exile was a journalist, who was hospitalized in Berlin but may have manifested symptoms before the April conference. Both CNN and Reuters mentioned Natalia Arno, director of the NGO Free Russia Foundation, as the second potential victim. Arno has suspicions that she was poisoned during her trip “probably by some nerve agent,” she wrote on Facebook, after the exile found her door “slightly open” with a “pungent smell of cheap perfume” in the hotel room. She said she ended up in the emergency room and suffered “a sharp pain and strange symptoms.” CNN said it had contacted Arno for comment.