Ukrainian presidential hopeful Viktor Yushchenko was a victim of dioxin poisoning, but it remains unclear if it was the result of a deliberate act, Austrian doctors treating him said on Saturday. Yushchenko, who faces Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich later this month in a re-run of November's rigged election in the ex-Soviet state, has long alleged he was poisoned as part of a plot to kill him. His illness kept him out of the early stages of the campaign and left his face bloated and pocked. "There is no doubt," Dr Michael Zimpfer, president of the Rudolfinerhaus clinic where Yushchenko is undergoing treatment, told a news conference."There were high concentrations of dioxin, most likely orally administered." It was impossible to determine, he said, how the poisoning had taken place. "We weren't there and we will leave that to the legal authorities to decide". Zimpfer said dioxin was soluble and would therefore be easy to administer in something like a cream soup. "We suspect a cause triggered by a third party," he said. Yushchenko arrived at the clinic on Friday evening and was to undergo further testing over the weekend.
