Posted on 11/30/2006 5:09:40 AM PST by Mrs Ivan
Former Russian Prime Minister Yegor Gaidar is being treated in a Moscow hospital after falling violently ill on a trip to Ireland on 24 November. Speculation is rife that he may have been poisoned. He fell ill a day after former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko died of radiation poisoning in London.
Mr Gaidar's daughter Maria said "doctors incline towards the view that his symptoms... indicate poisoning".
Mr Gaidar was rushed to intensive care in Dublin, then flown to Moscow.
Mr Gaidar, 50, suffered from a nose bleed and vomiting before fainting in Dublin last Friday, during a visit to promote his book The Death of Empire: Lessons for Contemporary Russia.
His daughter was quoted as saying he had eaten "a simple breakfast of fruit salad and a cup of tea".
Economic role
He has criticised President Vladimir Putin's economic policies, but is not regarded as a prominent political opponent of the Russian leader.
His programme of economic "shock therapy" under Mr Putin's predecessor Boris Yeltsin angered many Russians who saw their savings devalued. The programme lifted price controls and launched large-scale privatisations.
Maria Gaidar said she expected doctors to announce their diagnosis of his mystery illness on Friday.
"His condition is satisfactory and he is speaking, but he looks very bad - he looks pale and thin," she told Reuters news agency.
Anatoly Chubais, who oversaw Boris Yeltsin's privatisation programme and now heads Russia's electricity monopoly Unified Energy Systems, saw his illness as suspicious.
He linked the case to Mr Litvinenko's death and last month's murder of investigative reporter Anna Politkovskaya - both of whom were fierce critics of President Putin.
"The theory of attempted poisoning, attempted murder should undoubtedly be considered seriously," Mr Chubais told state-run Rossiya television.
"A chain of deaths of... Politkovskaya, Litvinenko and Gaidar would perfectly correspond to the interests and vision of those people who are openly talking about a forceful, unconstitutional change of power in Russia as a possible option."
There's no such thing as coincidence.........
Pootie Poot stikes again!
Pootiecide.
Stalin would be proud.
Another one?
If not him, then possibly some "rogue" agents in the intel agency........
Intimidation can effectively remove opposition.
That makes sense, but it is still risky when your country now has access to global news. Russians overthrew their government twice in the last century. They could do it again. Why not target the biggest threats secretly (more secretly than a suspicious shooting and poisoning)?
Russia is getting more Muslim every day.
Well, it worked for Bill.
Coincidence or conspiracy?
Coup de Etat?
I wonder how many more anti-Putin folks will die?
The political assasination game would really revive
the MSM here, its almost unfortunate that America has become
such a hotbed of moderate pansies.
Isn't that bootiecide?
Could be ego.
Maybe he's gotten to the point that he's so full of his own success that he doesn't think he can be overthrown and is choosing to intimidate more openly while also flaunting his power and control.
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