Mother and daughter in 'assassin's poison' scare

An American mother and daughter rushed to hospital in Moscow for suspected thallium poisoning arrived home today as colleagues and relatives struggled to understand how they could have been exposed to the potentially fatal chemical.

Dr Marina Kovalevsky, 49, and her daughter, Yana, 26, arrived at Los Angeles International Airport aboard an Aeroflot flight and were taken in wheelchairs past reporters to two waiting ambulances.

“We’re going to the hospital straight away,” Yana Kovalevsky said. “We just got off a 12-hour flight.

"Please give us a break.”

Her mother said: “No statement.”

Thallium, a reputed poison of choice for assassins, was initially suspected to be the toxin used in last year’s fatal poisoning in London of former Russian KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko, but it was later determined he had ingested the rare radioactive isotope polonium-210.

In Moscow, a US embassy spokesman said Russian officials were investigating how and when the women could have come into contact with poison.

Moscow police refused to comment, but Ekho Moskvy radio reported that authorities were checking cafés and restaurants in the area of the hotel where the women stayed.

The Moscow hospital where the women were treated since falling ill on February 24 said yesterday that they were in a moderately serious condition and Moscow’s top public health doctor, Nikolai Filatov, was quoted by the RIA-Novosti news agency as saying thallium poisoning had been confirmed.

The Kovalevskys are Russian-born and moved to the United States in 1989. They have visited Russia repeatedly since then, relatives and colleagues said.

Relatives said Marina Kovalevsky left for Moscow on February 14 to attend a friend’s party.

A colleague, Dr Arkady Stern, said that Marina Kovalevsky left Los Angeles “in a good state of health, in good spirits”.

After it was suspected she was poisoned, Marina Kovalevksy was given dialysis and took an antidote and her condition began to improve, Stern said. He believed the incident was “some sort of tragic mistake”.

There was no indication the women had business or political interests in Russia that could have made them a target.

How the two might have ingested the poison, a colourless, tasteless substance that can be fatal in doses of as little as a gramme, was not clear.

Thallium works by knocking out the body’s supply of potassium, essential for healthy cells, and attacking the nervous system, the stomach and kidneys.

Its effects are not immediately noticeable and frequently take weeks to kick in. Symptoms include hair loss and a burning sensation in extremities.

Thallium was used by Saddam Hussein, who poisoned several of his Iraqi opponents. It was also reportedly considered by the CIA for use against Cuban leader Fidel Castro, possibly by putting thallium powder in his shoes to prompt the loss of his trademark beard.