RIA Novosti is reporting that doctors have “deemed” that Yegor Gaidar was poisoned, but the nature of the poison has yet to be determined. What is interesting about this report, is that it quotes no doctor, only Gaidar’s press secretary, Valery Natarov. The report reads:
Doctors deem poisoning cause of Gaidar’s illness – press-secretary
30/11/2006 20:33 MOSCOW, November 30 (RIA Novosti) – Doctors say the illness of post-Soviet Russian reformer Yegor Gaidar was caused by poisoning, but have not identified the poison, his press secretary said Thursday.
“This is not poisoning by spoilt food products,” Valery Natarov said.
Gaidar’s daughter Maria said her 50-year-old father and former acting prime minister started vomiting and fainted at a conference in Dublin Friday, and remained unconscious for three hours. Gaidar was taken to a hospital in Dublin and later transferred to Moscow.
Natarov said doctors will not be able to give a precise diagnosis by the end of next week, as they have requested additional information from the hospital in Ireland where Gaidar was first taken to.
Natarov said Wednesday that Gaidar’s condition was “stable and noticeably improving.”
Yet, possible Kremlin involvement has been denied, even by Anatoly Chubais. As the Financial Times reports,
Mr Gaidar is a soft critic of Mr Putin and has repeatedly voiced his concern about the clampdown on democracy in Russia. Mr Chubais, who himself survived an assassination attempt last year, and other people close to Mr Gaidar have ruled out the possibility of a Kremlin-sponsored attempt on Mr Gaidar.
Mr Chubais said: “For me there is no doubt that the deathly Politkovskaya-Litvinenko-Gaidar chain, which by a miracle was not completed, would have been attractive for the supporters of an unconstitutional, forceful change of power in Russia.” Mr Chubais’ line corresponds with that of the Kremlin itself.
I guess Gaidar being a “soft critic” got him a well wishing phone call from Putin himself. Or the Kremlin has finally learned that cold and dismissive responses get you nowhere.
President Vladimir Putin phoned Yegor Gaidar yesterday as the former Russian prime minister recovered in hospital from a mysterious illness his friends claim was an attempt to poison him.
The Kremlin told the Financial Times Mr Putin was concerned about Mr Gaidar’s health and wished him a speedy recovery from the violent attack he suffered in Ireland last week, the day after ex-KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko died in London from apparent radiation poisoning.
The two men had known each other for many years and still met occasionally, a Kremlin sources said.
A good PR move if you ask me.
Events are still unfolding so we’ll see where all of this leads . . .
