New pictures show former Vladimir Putin aide Anatoly Chubais hospitalised in Sardinia, partially paralysed and unable to close his eyes.
While his condition was today formally diagnosed as a rare neurological disorder, Guillain-Barré syndrome, there are reports that Italian secret services continue to investigate the case.
Chubais, 67, the former Kremlin chief of staff and a former deputy prime minister, has suffered partial facial paralysis and cannot walk or close his eyes.
His case is one of many where enemies of Putin have suffered poisoning or died in suspicious circumstances. There are longstanding fears in Western intelligence that Russian laboratories have sought to create toxins that mimic real diseases.
Chubais is the most senior Russian official to quit in protest about the war in Ukraine. He resigned from his post as Putin’s envoy to international organisations in March and left Russia.
He had been a top Kremlin official before Putin was promoted to his first job in the federal government.
“His condition has stabilised, but Anatoly [Chubais] is still in intensive care, his legs and arms do not work well, his eyes cannot be closed, and he has partial facial paralysis,” said journalist and ex-presidential election candidate Ksenia Sobchak, who first broke the story of his illness.
She earlier wrote that specialists in hazmat suits had checked the location where he was taken ill, evidently amid fears of poisoning.
Guillain-Barré syndrome is a rare and serious condition which can be life-threatening and affects the nerves in the feet, hands and limbs. It causes numbness, weakness and pain.
A post from the anti-Putin General SVR Telegram channel claimed that Chubais had been named on the draft hit list but it gave no evidence for the allegation.
The list was supposedly people hostile to Nikolai Patrushev, a close crony of the president who is secretary of the Russian security council.
The channel claimed last month there was a mysterious assassination bid on Patrushev, a former head of the FSB secret service and also a key architect of the war in Ukraine.
“The list is large and contains 18 names of fairly well-known people, while Patrushev does not provide any evidence that would indicate that these people were directly related to the organisation of the assassination attempt,” said the channel.
It continued: "Included in it were several people to whom Putin feels personal dislike or has some doubts about sincere loyalty.
“For example, Anatoly Chubais, the former chairman of the board of RUSNANO and special representative of the president for relations with international organisations…was included in the list.
“Judging by the fact that after talking with the president Patrushev was in good and high spirits, Putin supported him and agreed to ‘settling scores’ with people from the list.
“And then, surprisingly, on Sunday, a number of information resources reported a sharp deterioration in Anatoly Chubais’ health.
“Knowing how the system works, we can assume that this is most likely a coincidence, since there was simply no time to prepare an assassination attempt, and Patrushev prefers to carefully prepare special operations of this kind.”
There are claims that Patrushev’s son, Dmitry, 44, the agriculture minister, is being groomed as Putin’s ultimate successor.
