Mystery illness hits former Russian PM
Pastor Dale Morgan
Mystery illness hits former Russian PM*
By Arkady Ostrovsky in Moscow
Published: November 28 2006 20:49 | Last updated: November 28 2006 20:49
Yegor Gaidar, Russia’s former prime minister and the architect of the
country’s market reforms, last week suffered a sudden, unexplained and
violent illness on a visit to Ireland, a day after Alexander Litvinenko,
a former KGB spy, died in London from an apparent radiation poisoning.
Mr Gaidar is now in a stable condition at an undisclosed Moscow
hospital, undergoing tests. In a telephone interview with the FT, Mr
Gaidar said the doctors had so far been unable to identify the cause of
the violent vomiting and bleeding that he suffered during a conference
in Ireland.
Anatoly Chubais, his former associate and the head of Russia’s
electricity monopoly, said he suspected Mr Gaidar may have been
poisoned. However, he strongly ruled out that either Russia’s security
services or the Kremlin could have had any involvement. There is no
indication of radiation being the cause of his illness.
Mr Gaidar is one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s softer critics
and his daughter is a leader of an opposition movement. Mr Gaidar, who
heads an economic think-tank in Moscow, has close connections with the
government and occasionally advises them on economic matters.
“I have suffered sudden problems with my health on November 24 which
posed a threat to my life. This threat has not been realised. After a
few hours the situation stabilised,” Mr Gaidar said.
Mr Chubais and Mr Gaidar said the doctors could not explain the symptoms
he had suffered.
Mr Gaidar said he felt ill after eating a simple breakfast where he was
staying near Dublin. He said he could barely move any of his limbs and
had to lie down for most of the afternoon.
Ekaterina Genieva, who helped to organise the conference at National
University of Ireland, Maynooth, said Mr Gaidar looked pale and unwell
when a few hours later he came down to answer questions about his book
The Death of the Empire: Lessons for Contemporary Russia. After about 10
minutes, Mr Gaidar said he had to leave the room.
“I rushed after him and found him lying on the floor, unconscious. He
was vomiting blood and also bleeding from the nose for about 35
minutes,” Ms Genieva said. Mr Gaidar was taken to James Connolly
Memorial Hospital in Blanchardstown, where he was treated overnight. The
following morning, Mr Gaidar had asked to be discharged and, after a
visit to the Russian embassy, was put on a flight back to Moscow.
Mr Gaidar declined to comment about whether he believed he had suffered
a poisoning attack. The news of his illness comes after a series of
mysterious incidents involving Russian public figures over the past
month. It emerged as the Kremlin and state-run television continued to
suggest the murky world of Russia’s recent émigrés was behind the death
of Mr Litvinenko.
Sources in Dublin said they did not suspect anything untoward in Mr
Gaidar’s illness.