Poisoning fears for Putin critic who fled after Ukraine attack
Former adviser in hospital after losing feeling in arms and legs
THE highest-ranking Russian official to quit his job following the invasion of Ukraine has suddenly fallen gravely ill – prompting fears he may have been poisoned.
Anatoly Chubais, whose departure from Moscow was considered a protest against the conflict, has been diagnosed with a rare neurological disorder.
The former ally to Vladimir Putin has been receiving treatment for Guillain-Barré syndrome at a private medical facility in Sardinia, a family friend said yesterday.
Its symptoms, including attacks on the nervous system by the patient’s own immune system, are similar to those of chemical poisoning.
Mr Chubais, 67, a key figure in Russia’s post-Soviet economic transformation, was acting as Putin’s climate adviser before he stepped down.
They have known each other since the 1990s.
He left the country and has been living in Italy since, according to reports.
On Sunday, the economist was said to have been relaxing at a luxury holiday resort when he suddenly experienced numbness in his arms and legs.
His condition worsened and hospital staff looking after him have been wearing protective suits as a precaution, as did the investigators who entered his hotel room.
Poisoning of a perceived traitor is a move straight out of the Kremlin playbook.
In recent years there have been a spate of such episodes, including the use of the chemical agent novichok against activist Alexei Navalny in September 2020 and the Salisbury poisonings of March 2018.
Double agent Sergei Skripal was targeted at his home in the Wiltshire city when Russian agents smeared novichok on the handle of his front door.
An apparently discarded perfume bottle containing the poison led to the death of Dawn Sturgess in the nearby town of Amesbury.
Last night, Leonid Volkov, an ally of Mr Navalny, said: ‘One thing we can be sure of: when Mr Chubais felt he lost sensation in his limbs, he did not doubt for a second he had been poisoned since he knows who Mr Putin is, how he views him now and what he does to people like him.’
Shortly before Mr Chubais’s resignation, Mr Putin said Russia needed to ‘purify itself’ by ‘distinguishing true patriots from scum and traitors’.
Oligarch Oleg Tinkov said in May that Moscow forced him to sell his stake in his bank at a knockdown price after he criticised Mr Putin’s ‘crazy war’.
He said: ‘Maybe now the Kremlin is going to kill me.’
However, the medical director at Mr Chubais’s hospital in Sardinia, Marcello Giannico said: ‘There is no spy story. He’s improving.’
A Kremlin spokesman said: ‘This is sad news. We wish him a speedy recovery.’
The symptoms of GuillainBarré syndrome can develop suddenly in a matter of hours, or slowly worsen over the course of a few weeks.
Around one in seven patients suffer weakness of the muscles involved in breathing, meaning they have to be placed on a ventilator to keep them alive.
Recovery can take weeks or, in some cases, years – with around a third of patients suffering some permanent effect.
‘Did not doubt for a second’ ‘We wish him a speedy recovery’