Sobchak — daughter of the late Anatoly Sobchak, a former mayor of St. Petersburg and a political mentor to Russian President Vladimir Putin — ran for Russia’s presidency in 2018 and, in recent years, has been critical of Putin, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He directly quoted Chubais, who said of his condition: “I was hospitalized in one of the European clinics with a diagnosis of Guillain-Barr syndrome. Condition of moderate severity, stable.” According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Guillain-Barre syndrome is a rare disorder in which the immune system damages the body’s nerves. Chubais did not respond to a request for comment from CNN and it is unclear where he is currently in Europe. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday that the Kremlin did not have details about what happened to Chubais, but said it was “sad news.” Chubais resigned as the Kremlin’s special envoy for the environment in March. Reuters, citing two sources familiar with the matter, said he left the country because of the war in Ukraine. Chubais did not respond to CNN’s request for comment at the time. In March, the Kremlin confirmed that Chubais had left his job. Chubais had been working in the environmental sector since December 4, 2020, TASS reported. He rose to prominence as Boris Yeltsin’s finance minister in the 1990s. In the early days of Putin’s rise to power, Chubais was seen as an adversary by the now-president. Putin claimed in a series of interviews in 1999 that Chubais rescinded the Kremlin job he was originally offered. In recent years, Chubais continued to call for economic reform and was one of the few remaining liberals associated with the Russian government.
