Anatoly Chubais, who quit his job as the Kremlin’s climate envoy in March shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, was hospitalized over the weekend in Olbia, a town in Sardinia, while on holiday in the nearby resort of Porto Cervo. they said. Chubais is believed to have Guillain-Barré syndrome, a rare neurological disorder, they added. “He is stable. There is no danger to his life. He can walk, he can talk. He’s fine.” But Chubais does not believe he was poisoned, a person close to him said. “These are very understandable suspicions. But he doesn’t believe it.” Chubais did not respond to a request for comment. Ksenia Sobchak, a Russian TV presenter and colleague, wrote on Telegram on Sunday that Chubais’ wife told her he was in an “unstable condition” after his arms and legs “suddenly started to go numb”. Sobchak published what she said was a statement from Chubais himself, who said: “My condition is moderate and stable.” The central architect of Russia’s post-communist privatization, Chubais, 67, is the most senior official to resign from the Kremlin since Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February. Chubais did not give a reason for his resignation, although it is widely believed in Russia that he left his post in opposition to the war. Some members of the Russian elite say his apparent distaste for the invasion is widespread. Few of them have dared to speak out, however, for fear of reprisals. Shortly before Chubais’ resignation, Putin said that Russia needed to “clean up” by “distinguishing the true patriots from the scum and traitors” who made up a “fifth column” of elites who “in their nature intellectually exist there, and not here , with our people, with Russia”. Oligarch Oleg Tinkov said in May that the Kremlin forced him to sell his stake in his bank at a low price after he criticized Putin’s “crazy war” and thought: “Maybe now the Kremlin will kill me.” Western governments have accused Russia of poisoning several Kremlin critics with nerve agents in recent years, including former spy Sergei Skripal, who was targeted in the UK, and opposition leader Alexei Navalny. After Chubais fell ill on Sunday, specialists in “chemical protective suits” inspected his room and police questioned “all witnesses,” according to Sobchak’s Telegram news agency. Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, told reporters that news of Chubais’ illness was “sad news” and wished him a full recovery, according to Interfax. Guillain-Barré syndrome is a rare disorder in which the body’s immune system attacks the nerves. It is often preceded by a viral infection such as Covid-19 and usually begins with tingling and loss of control in the arms and legs. Although the disease is usually not life-threatening, it can lead to full-body paralysis and may require months of treatment.
