has been called all three

Question

Example with a context:

Tragedy, foul play or fear of prosecution? A spate of mystery suicides by allies of Ukraine's deposed president Viktor Yanukovych has been called all three.

Three former lawmakers close to the ousted leader have been found dead in Ukraine in the past two weeks, in what their party has called a consequence of their persecution by Kiev's new pro-Western government.

I don't think I really understand that part. all three obviously refers to the three suicides by former Ukrainian officials, but a spate of mystery suicides has been call all three—I don't get that.

Answer 1

It has the same basic form as the following:

Cute, noisy, or messy? A box of puppies has been called all three.

Or, imagine a journalist asked three police officers the following question:

How do you see this recent spate of suicides of Yanukovych's allies?

They answer, in turn:

(#1) I consider it a tragedy

(#2) Actually, I suspect foul play is at work

(#3) I'm not so sure. I'm pretty sure it was a result of them being afraid of prosecution

And then, the journalist turns to the Chief of Police and asks:

So, Chief; tragedy, foul play, or fear of prosecution? How do you see this spate of suicides?

And the Chief replies:

Actually, I'd say it was all three of those.

The journalist returns to her office and starts writing her report:

Tragedy, foul play or fear of prosecution? A spate of mystery suicides by allies of Ukraine's deposed president Viktor Yanukovych has been called all three.

Answer 2

Tragedy, foul play or fear of prosecution? A spate of mystery suicides by allies of Ukraine's deposed president Viktor Yanukovych has been called all three.

It's unrelated to the following paragraph. It refers directly back to the opening sentence.

Re-cast it as

It's been called all three; tragedy, foul play & fear of prosecution. A spate of mystery suicides...

It doesn't have the dramatic impact [nor does it make a very good sentence at all, but just to give the idea], but it now points right at the 'three' -

• tragedy
• foul play
• fear of prosecution

Answer 3

All three doesn't refer to the suicides but to the causes assigned:

• Some people have called the suicides "tragedy"
• Some people have called the suicides "foul play"
• Some people have called the suicides "fear of prosecution"

The suicides have been called [passive] all three.