A physician and her adult daughter returned to Los Angeles Wednesday after being poisoned during a trip to Moscow, the latest in a string of Russian poisoning cases that have sparked international intrigue.
Marina Kovalevsky, a 49-year-old internist well known in L.A.'s Russian community, and her daughter Yana, 26, were sickened 12 days ago by thallium, an odorless, colorless, toxic chemical element initially suspected in the death of a former Russian spy in London last year.
The women, both U.S. citizens who have lived here more than 15 years, arrived Wednesday afternoon at Los Angeles International Airport from Moscow to a throng of waiting TV cameras and reporters. Looking pale and being pushed in wheelchairs to waiting ambulances by attendants, the women had little to say.
"Have some decency; have some respect," said Yana Kovalevsky, her breathing labored and her hand raised to shield her face from the lights of television news cameras.
Her uncle, Leon Peck, a Beverly Hills oral surgeon who flew to Moscow last week to help his sister and niece on the trip home, told waiting reporters they did not want to talk. "You can see their condition," he said.
The Kovalevskys were taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Hospital spokeswoman Simi Singer said late Wednesday that they were evaluated by physicians in the emergency department and were admitted. She added, "Both women are alert and in stable condition.
Their plight has roiled the large local community of expatriates from Russia and other former Soviet republics, many of whom say it is hard to imagine any motive for an attack on the popular doctor or her daughter.
"Everybody is upset. Everybody is talking about it," said West Hollywood resident Irina Mermel, 69, who has known the family more than a decade.
At the same time, some familiar with Russian crime said it was hard to think that the poisoning was accidental.
Russian intelligence officials told the Moscow media that they believed the pair might have been poisoned in an attempt to cover up the theft of their jewelry, though family members who have been in contact with the women said neither had mentioned anything about that.
The Kovalevskys traveled to Moscow in mid-February to attend the wedding of a friend's niece, said their cousin Olga Tabarovskaya, but were hospitalized Feb. 24 after reporting pain and numbness.
