Stinging chestnuts

I've just come across an old (1994) Time article about President Viktor Yushchenko of the Ukraine. It has an odd opening paragraph:

The first thing one notices about the opposition candidate is his face, full of scars and blisters that were absent from his once youthful, handsome visage just six months ago. And though Viktor Yushchenko, 50, raises bees in his spare time, he and his supporters from western Ukraine claim that there is nothing natural about his disfigurement, which they say is the result of a poisoning attempt by his political rivals in September.

Now you'll excuse my ignorance but does the author (Daniel Eisenberg) really think that bees might have anything to do with his appearance?

Daniel seems to suffer from that old chestnut of the fixation of non-beekeepers on stinging. I bet if he interviewed Viktor one of his top questions would be: Do you get stung?