Poisoning of Ukraine top spy’s wife sparks conspiracy theories

Marianna Budanova, the wife of the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence service (GRU), Kyrylo Budanov, is being treated for poisoning in what could be the most serious targeting of a family member of Ukraine’s leadership since the start of the full-scale war with Russia in February, 2022.

Amid suspicions it was an assassination attempt directed by Moscow intended for Budanov, Russian media outlet news.ru speculated it was linked to infighting among Ukrainian elites. Investigative Russian-language Telegram channel Agentsvo said that the incident differs from previous poisonings blamed on Russia. Newsweek has contacted the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine for comment.

Ukrainian officials have confirmed reports that Budanova, had been sickened by “heavy metals,” with Ukrainska Pravda reporting that she was was “most likely poisoned through food” but was recovering. Budanov himself had not been poisoned, the outlet said.

GRU official Andriy Yusov told U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe that Budanova, was “undergoing a course of treatment, which is already coming to an end.” RFE also reported that unnamed intelligence officials likewise appear to have been poisoned with “substances” that “are not used in everyday life or for military purposes” and that they may “indicate a premeditated attempt to poison.”

Budanov is a wanted man in Russia, where the investigative committee that probes serious crimes has accused him and other members of Ukraine’s military leadership of involvement in drone attacks on civilian infrastructure.

There have reportedly been at least 10 attempts on his life since 2014, including one during the full-scale invasion following a rocket attack on the State Administration of Ukraine in Kyiv. Budanov has said that his wife lives with him at his office, although she does not work at the GRU.

In an interview she gave the Ukrainian edition of Elle, Budanova, 30, who is a psychologist, spoke of living in fear.

“After all the attempted attacks on our family, on my husband, on me, we perceive every day of our lives differently,” she told the publication, according to a translation.

But despite his status as a high-value target for Moscow, Russian publication News.ru cited a source who said that the poisoning was the result of a struggle among Ukrainian elites.

The poisoning “could be beneficial for Zelensky himself,” said former member of the U.N. Commission on Biological Weapons, Igor Nikulin.

This was because he and the Ukrainian commander Valeri Zaluzhnyi are “proteges of the Americans,” while Zelensky and head of the presidential administration Andriy Yermak “are proteges of the British.”

“This is a behind-the-scenes fight, and it is unlikely that she accidentally ate something,” Nikulin told the publication, without providing evidence.

Nikulin has previously made outlandish claims, including in 2022, when he said that the U.S. had tested the pathogens of dangerous diseases in Ukraine as part of the Pentagon‘s military biological program. He has also claimed that coronovirus was a biological weapon.

However, Agentstvo reported that the poisoning of Budanova did not have the hallmarks of previous incidents blamed on Moscow.

“This is at least the third high-profile poisoning in Ukraine since the beginning of the war,” it said, with the two previous incidents involving those in the Ukrainian delegation involved in negotiations with Russia whose symptoms “were consistent with poisoning from porphyrin, organophosphates or bicyclic substances.”

“This time, heavy metals were probably used that had not been used in confirmed political poisonings before,” said the outlet.

A BBC Ukrainian Service source in Ukrainian law enforcement agencies said that a criminal case has not yet been opened, but it is possible that an official investigation will begin in the near future.

There have been other unexplained incidents that have aroused suspicion recently. Earlier in November, Zaluznhy’s chief aide, Maj. Hennadiy Chastyakov, was killed when he opened a birthday present containing a grenade. The Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said the “tragic explosion” occurred when Chastyakov had snatched the grenade from his 13-year-old son.

Some Ukrainian commentators questioned whether it was an attack Zaluzhny himself, on the assumption that he might have attended the celebrations. It happened days after he told The Economist that the war had reached a “stalemate” in a blunt assessment later rejected by Zelensky.