Gaidar Poisoned?

The Financial Times reports that Yegor Gaidar, the former PM and architect of the shock therapy was hospitalized last week with a mysterious illness while visiting Ireland. He is in a stable condition and recovering in a Moscow hospital, however, his doctors have not been able to explain the symptoms of his illness. Anatoly Chubais, his former associate in the 1990’s reformist government, expressed a suspicion that Gaidar may have been poisoned.

In the meantime, Boris Berezovsky issued a statement confirming the close ties he had with Alexander Litvinenko after radioactive traces of polonium-210 were found in his offices.

For an interesting analysis of the recent events of Litvinenko’s poisoning and Politkovskaya’s murder, see Yulia Latynina’s column in The Moscow Times “The Lessons of Litvinenko's Death”.