Another mysterious illness has struck another prominent Russian. Former prime minister Yegor Gaidar became ill Friday at a conference in Ireland, vomiting and then losing consciousness for three hours, according to his spokesman.
Gaidar’s daughter, Maria, said there was a serious threat her father could have died Friday, but that his condition was now improving. He was transferred from Dublin to a Moscow hospital on Sunday.
Doctors have not identified the cause of the illness and are considering the possibility that Gaidar, 50, might have been poisoned, his spokesman said. Gaidar became ill shortly after eating breakfast.
Gaidar fell ill at a university just outside Dublin where he was answering questions on his book, “The Death of the Empire: Lessons for Contemporary Russia.” He has been a critic of the policies of President Vladimir Putin, particularly increasing state control over important sectors of the economy.
Former Russian intelligence officer Alexander Litvinenko died Thursday in London after being exposed to a radioactive substance. That death, which has set off wide speculation about who is responsible, remains under investigation by British police. Litvinenko in a final statement accused Putin of ordering his assassination, a charge the Kremlin dismissed as “absurd.”