MOSCOW, August 20. /TASS/. The use of chemical warfare agents against Vladimir Saldo, the head of the civil-military administration in the Kherson Region, is being additionally investigated, the Russian Defense Ministry told reporters on Saturday.

"Taking into account the evidence of state terrorism committed by the Kiev regime, an additional investigation is being currently conducted into the poisoning of Vladimir Saldo, [the head of the civil-military administration] of the Kherson Region, with combat warfare agents," the Defense Ministry said.

On August 4, Saldo announced that he had been hospitalized after a medical examination. Sergey Eliseev, the chairman of the regional government who was appointed to this position on July 4, is currently performing Saldo’s duties. Prior to his appointment, Eliseev had worked as first deputy head of the Kaliningrad region’s government. Saldo said then that doctors had insisted on his immediate hospitalization. Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the civil-military administration in the Kherson Region, said that Saldo was treated at the Sklifosovsky Institute for Emergency Medicine in Moscow.