JOSEF
STALIN
was poisoned, according to a Russian historian who has studied
secret Kremlin documents. Rumours of a murder have circulated
since Stalin's death. But Nikolay Dobriukha claims the documents
he has seen prove he was poisoned in a plot hatched by his successor,
Nikita Krushchev.
Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria,
head of the secret police, and Communist Party Committee leader
Gheorghi Malenkov also helped. Officially, Stalin died, aged 73,
in March 1953 of a brain hemorrhage brought on by 'poor health'
after collapsing in his room at his country dacha.
But guards ordered not
to disturb him did not find him until the next night. He died
four days later. However, Mr. Dobriukha says Stalin was in perfect
health. A doctor's report from 1947 said he had the pulse and
blood pressure of a man half his age and records from 1950 and
1952 also show a fit man.
Mr. Dobriukha says Stalin
was poisoned at his dacha at the end of February 1953, when there
were no doctors at hand. Stalin's double, who was staying in Moscow,
was also poisoned and the bodies later swapped. Newspapers controlled
by Beria reported 'Staling had a brain haemorrhage in his Moscow
apartment'.
Mr. Dobriukha said : 'Why
did Beria need to report the leader had died in his Moscow apartment?
Probably he spread misinformation to use Stalin's lookalike.'
The Russian daily Pravda says the documents also contain medical
reports of blood and urine tests suggesting poison and evidence
of an enlarged liver.
The Daily Mail (UK) : 2nd
January 2006.
