In October 2022, Elena Kostyuchenko suddenly fell ill. She was on a train to Berlin when the symptoms started: a severe headache, sweating, stomach pain. And a curious smell of rotten fruit. The illness continued. Kostyuchenko’s fingers ballooned; she felt exhausted and weak.
Doctors initially diagnosed long Covid and then hepatitis. Eventually, they came to a different and troubling conclusion: someone had poisoned her. The German police opened, closed and reopened an investigation. Seemingly, she had been the victim of an assassination attempt on European soil.
