POISON is Vladimir Putin’s preferred weapon, and the insane despot is now the leading suspect in the attack on his friend Roman Abramovich.

The Chelsea owner, along with two Ukrainian officials, were allegedly poisoned during peace negotiations, leaving him with blindness, peeling skin, frequent severe tearing, and red eyes.

Russian billionaire Abramovich is the latest in a long line of victims alleged to have been harmed by the Kremlin’s mysterious hand, leaving them unwell and sometimes battling for their lives.

Despite Moscow’s constant denials, Putin is known to employ poison to terrorise his rivals, typically in the hope of shocking them into silence rather than killing them.

At least eight famous opponents of Putin and his government are suspected of being poisoned after becoming ill under strange circumstances.

Victims have been left screaming in agony, had their faces deformed, or have died slowly from radiation.

They are hospitalised for weeks, and even if they survive, they will have received an unmistakable message: don’t mess with Putin.

And at the heart of Russia’s poison arsenal lies the enigmatic “Lab X,” which has been in operation since the days of the Soviet Union.

Abramovich is said to have consumed tainted chocolate and required hospitalisation, with the symptoms fading after a week.

The poisoning, it is thought, was not intended to be deadly, but rather to send a message to anyone considered to be working against Russia.

The incident, which is thought to have occurred in Kyiv, has been characterised as having “all the characteristics of the Russian secret agency.”

And it’s possible that the Chelsea owner, an oligarch sanctioned by the UK for his ties to Putin, was targeted by accident.

The 55-year-old has been serving as a go-between, including delivering a handwritten message from Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky to Putin.

Despite Russia’s hope of a swift victory of Ukraine, Putin’s terrible conflict continues after one month of hard warfare and airstrikes.

And the new alleged poisoning demonstrates how low Moscow would go to obtain what it wants as it attempts to overhaul the international order.

Poisonings are considered as Putin’s calling card, with a “sly wink” to the rest of the world, as well as plenty of “easy deniability” and “vicious theatricality.”