A longtime Kremlin adviser who quit and left Russia after the invasion of Ukraine has been hospitalized, with some opposition figures fearing he may have been poisoned.
Anatoly Chubais, a key figure behind Russia’s post-Soviet economic transformation, played a largely ceremonial role as Vladimir Putin’s climate adviser when he left Moscow in March in what was seen as a tacit protest against the war Ukraine However, he has not spoken out against the president or the invasion.
A family friend of Mr. Chubais said on Sunday that the 67-year-old veteran reformer has been moved to intensive care at a European clinic and has been diagnosed with a rare neurological disorder.
Ksenia Sobchak quoted a message from Mr Chubais saying that his condition was “moderate, stable” and that he suffers from Guillain-Barré syndrome, a rare disorder in which the body’s immune system attacks the nerves.
His wife, Avdotya Smirnova, said Chubais was taken to hospital last week when he suddenly felt unwell and lost feeling in his limbs.
According to Ms. Sobchak, the room where the former Kremlin informant was staying has been inspected by officials wearing hazmat suits.
Asked about Putin’s former adviser, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he was unaware of his condition and extended his good wishes.
“This is undoubtedly sad news. We wish him a speedy recovery,” he told Russian news agencies on Monday.
Mr Chubais’ whereabouts are unknown, but Italian media reported that since fleeing Russia, the former deputy prime minister has spent time at his properties in Tuscany and Sardinia.
La Repubblica newspaper said he was on holiday in Sardinia when he suddenly fell ill and was taken to a hospital on the island.
Chubais was one of the most powerful figures under President Boris Yeltsin in the 1990s, but lost his influence when Vladimir Putin came to power.
With a few exceptions, President Putin’s disastrous war in Ukraine has not led to a wave of high-profile defections, and Chubais himself, who once spearheaded liberal economic reforms in Russia, has remained silent.
A spate of suspected poisonings of Kremlin critics, including opposition leader Alexei Navalny, has made Kremlin officials wary of resigning or taking any action that President Putin might see as a betrayal.
To many Russian opposition figures, Mr. Chubais’ illness looks like retribution from the Kremlin.
“One thing we can be sure of: when Chubais felt that he had lost feeling in his limbs, he did not doubt for a second that he had been poisoned as he knows who Mr. Putin is, as he sees him (Mr. Putin) now and what does he do. to people like him,” Leonid Volkov, an ally of jailed opposition politician Alexei Navalny, said on Sunday.
The exiled activist said he did not feel sorry for Mr Chubais, who once confronted Mr Navalny in a televised debate, as the former Kremlin adviser did not speak out against the war.