Moscow: A former adviser to Vladimir Putin, who left Russia after it invaded Ukraine, is in hospital with a rare neurological disorder amid fears he was poisoned.
Anatoly Chubais, a key figure in Russia’s post-Soviet economic transformation, held a largely ceremonial role as Putin’s climate adviser until he left Moscow in March in what was seen as a tacit protest against the war in Ukraine.
Anatoly Chubais at a Nanotechnology Forum in Moscow, in 2009. Credit:AP
However, he has not denounced the president or the invasion publicly.
A family friend of Chubais said the Belarus-born 67-year-old was taken to intensive care in a European clinic and has been diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome, in which the body’s immune system attacks the nerves. Ksenia Sobchak, a television presenter, said she received a message from Chubais, describing his condition as “moderate” and “stable”.
His wife, Avdotya Smirnova, said Chubais was taken to hospital last week when he suddenly felt ill and lost sensation in his limbs. Hazmat-clad officials had inspected Chubais’s hospital room according to Sobchak.
When asked about Chubais’s health on Monday, Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman, said he was unaware of his condition and extended his good wishes. “This certainly is sad news. We are wishing him a speedy recovery,” he said.
It was confirmed that after falling ill, reportedly while at a holiday resort in northern Sardinia, Chubais was taken to the Mater Olbia private hospital in the town of Olbia. Doctors would not be drawn on what he was suffering from but appeared to dismiss speculation that he might have been poisoned.
“He is improving. We are carrying out routine tests. There’s no spy story,” Marcello Giannico, the director general of the hospitals, said.
Chubais’s brother told Russian TV channel 360 yesterday that the former Kremlin official was on the mend.
“Anatoly has just texted me to say his condition has improved so there’s nothing serious there,” Igor Chubais said, adding that his younger brother does not have any underlying conditions.
“He’s a healthy guy. He will be on the mend soon, it will be all right.”
With a few exceptions, Putin’s war in Ukraine did not spur high-profile defections.
A flurry of suspicious poisonings of Kremlin critics, including Alexei Navalny, the jailed opposition leader, has reportedly made Kremlin officials wary of resigning or taking steps that could be viewed by Putin as a betrayal.
To many Russian opposition figures Chubais’s illness looks like Kremlin retribution.
“One thing we can be sure of: when Chubais felt he lost sensation in his limbs, he did not doubt for a second that he has been poisoned since he knows who Mr Putin is, how [he] views him now and what he does to people like him,” Leonid Volkov, an ally of Navalny, said.
The exiled activist said he did not feel sorry for Chubais, who once faced off with Navalny in a televised debate because the former Kremlin adviser did not speak out over the war.
Chubais was at the helm of Rusnano, a state-owned nanotechnology company, for a decade until December 2020 when he was appointed as Putin’s envoy for co-operation with international organisations.
Chubais was one of the most powerful figures under Boris Yeltsin’s presidency in the 1990s but lost influence when Putin came to power.
Rusnano has been embroiled in embezzlement scandals in the past and, in March, a state-owned news agency quoted unnamed security officials saying Chubais and his allies were facing a corruption probe.
No charges against him have been made public.
Telegraph, London
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