Pussy Riot activist claims Russian intelligence agencies poisoned him

Pyotr Verzilov. Pic/AFP

A leading activist from Russian protest group Pussy Riot who is believed to have been poisoned has laid the blame on the government's intelligence services. "The poisoning was carried out so professionally that no other conclusion is possible," Pyotr Verzilov told the BBC on Thursday.

He said he believed he was most likely attacked either by Russia's FSB domestic security agency or GRU military intelligence. The activist also told Germany's Bild newspaper they could have tried a "new cocktail of poisons" on him as his symptoms were more immediate "than others".

Moscow scoffs at Skripal suspect report
Moscow has scoffed at a report by an investigative group claiming one of the suspects in the poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal was a highly decorated colonel in Russian military intelligence. Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said it was timed to coincide with the address at the UN Security Council of British PM Minister Theresa May.

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