Gaidar’s Coincidental Illness (Spy-Games?)
Posted by StormWarning on 29 Nov 2006 at 08:27 am | Tagged as: Current Affairs, International Issues
The situation with Russian figures continues to almost make me feel like a soap opera, tabloid reporter here…and I’m not so sure that I like the feeling. But the happenings in Russia and regarding former Soviet spies could actually have an impact on World affairs, never forgetting the continuing problems in Chechnya. Remembering that this could be absolutely nothing, and unrelated to Litvinenko’s poisoning…
Mystery illness hits former Russian PM, Yegor Gaidar, at conference in Ireland
…Mr Gaidar is one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s softer critics and his daughter is a leader of an opposition movement. Mr Gaidar, who heads an economic think-tank in Moscow, has close connections with the government and occasionally advises them on economic matters….
November 24…sudden, unexplained and violent illness … Gaidar felt ill after eating a simple breakfast where he was staying near Dublin…could barely move any of his limbs and had to lie down for most of the afternoon…later found lying on the floor, unconscious…vomiting blood and also bleeding from the nose for about 35 minutes…Gaidar declined to comment about whether he believed he had suffered a poisoning attack…Anatoly Chubais, his former associate and the head of Russia’s electricity monopoly, said he suspected Mr Gaidar may have been poisoned…
Russia’s Gaidar ill in hospital with mystery ailment
…Anatoly Chubais, a very close former colleague who went on to become Yeltsin’s chief-of-staff, told reporters that doctors thought Gaidar’s illness may not be natural…
…Chubais, target of an assassination attempt in 2005, made a link between Gaidar’s illness and the murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was shot dead last month in Moscow, and Litvinenko’s death…
Other
TOX-SICK HONCHO
Gaidar’s entourage denies radioactive poisoning
Gaidar’s Daughter Hangs Anti-State Banner
I guess there will be more unraveling.
In 2001, Litvinenko published "Blowing Up Russia: Terror from Within." In the book, Litvinenko claims that the Federal Security Service (FSB) was involved in a series of apartment block bombings in 1999 that killed more than 300 people. It was suggested that the attacks were blamed on Chechen rebels in order to justify the Russian invasion of Chechnya.
Current Affairs, International Issues
Somehow, some of the media is still reporting Gaidar’s severe illness in the present and not the past tense (at least I think he is recovering)…
Aide: Doctors say former Russian premier poisoned
…Doctors in Moscow believe former Russian Prime Minister Yegor Gaidar was poisoned, the Associated Press reported.
“Doctors don’t see a natural reason for the poisoning and they have not been able to detect any natural substance known to them” in Gaidar’s body, spokesman Valery Natarov said, according to the wire service. “So obviously we’re talking about poisoning (and) it was not natural poisoning.”
Gaidar, who is gravely ill, began vomiting and fainted last week, one day after former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko died in London. The former premier was rushed into intensive care at a Dublin hospital, and is now being treated in Moscow…
… Gaidar’s daughter spoke to Russia’s Kommersant newspaper: “The final diagnosis will be made public on Friday,” she said. “The doctors need that time to rule out all divergences from the main theory — poisoning with a substance unknown to civil medicine. The doctors are inclined to think that all the symptoms — weakness, sleepiness, loss of consciousness, low brain activity, bleeding in the throat, immobility with partial paralysis — are evidence of poisoning.”
Doctors baffled by Russian Gaidar’s illness - aide
…”They think it is a substance they cannot so far identify — it is not a natural poisoning,” he said. “It is too early to say whether it is a poison or not…”
…Gaidar’s former associate Anatoly Chubais, who now heads Russia’s electricity grid, has suggested Gaidar could have been poisoned but did not say who could have been responsible.
The Kremlin said on Thursday Putin had telephoned Gaidar to wish him a speedy recovery…
But according to this article, Gaidar’s health has markedly improved, Natarov said, and he may even be released from the hospital next week.
I’ve already seen mentions that the Litvinenko murder etc. has “movie written all over it” and even that former Senator (and current actor) Fred Thompson should play the part of Gaidar.
I’ll keep posting on this stuff while its a live and hot issue, but is anyone else tired of this intrigue yet?