Mysterious Incidents Connected to Russia Continue Piling Up...

...as does the speculation as to whether Russia's Vlad Putin is behind the murders and poisonings of critics, rivals, and potential threats to his power.

The latest incident is the thallium poisoning of two American women.

The U.S. Embassy on Wednesday confirmed that two American women have been hospitalized in Moscow for possible thallium poisoning.

The spokesman identified the women as Marina Kovalevsky and her daughter, Yana, but did not give further details. He said they were hoping to return home soon, but it was not immediately clear when they might be able to do so.

Citing unidentified medical authorities, the Interfax news agency later reported that the women had been discharged from the hospital in the morning and left for the United States in the afternoon. The U.S. Embassy could not confirm the report.

The hospital where they have been treated since falling ill on Feb. 24 said Wednesday morning that they were in moderately serious condition. Moscow's top public health doctor, Nikolai Filatov, was quoted by the RIA-Novosti news agency as saying that thallium poisoning had been confirmed.

It's unclear at this time what made these two women the target of a poisoning. This is an issue to continue keeping tabs on.