Ex Russian leader falls ill in Dublin
Former Russian Premier Yegor Gaidar was being treated in a Moscow hospital today several days after falling violently ill at a conference in Ireland, his daughter said.
Gaidar, who served briefly as prime minister in the 1990s under President Boris Yeltsin, began vomiting and fainted during the conference in Dublin on Friday and was rushed into intensive care at a hospital, Maria Gaidar said in comments broadcast on Ekho Moskvy radio.
“There was a serious threat to his life. Doctors still can’t figure out a reason for what happened,” she said.
Yegor Gaidar returned to Moscow earlier this week and doctors at a Moscow hospital considered his condition to be satisfactory.
The incident comes amid heightened suspicions in Britain about the poisoning of former KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko, who died just one day before Gaidar fell ill.
Another former KGB spy who met with Litvinenko on the day he was allegedly poisoned, Andrei Lugovoy, served as bodyguard to Gaidar at one point.
Russian news reports quoted Gaidar aides as saying there was no indication so far of foul play.
Mr Gaidar was believed to have told delegates at the two-day conference that he was feeling unwell and took a break.
He later returned to discuss his book, Downfall Of The Empire: Lessons For Contemporary Russia, when he was forced to leave the gathering a second time through illness.
A spokesman for the Russian Embassy in Dublin said: “As far as we know he is still under observation. I understand it is nothing threatening to his life.”
Mr Gaidar was treated in hospital until Sunday when he travelled back to Russia. It is understood he has suffered some health problems in the past.
