Top Vladimir Putin Advisor Anatoly Chubais Hospitalized With Rare Neurological Disorder; Was He Poisoned?

Anatoly Chubais, a former high-ranking advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin, has reportedly fallen seriously ill.

Chubais, who fled Russia after the invasion of Ukraine, was in intensive care Sunday, reported New York Post. According to Ksenia Sobchak, a Russian television personality and friend of Chubais, the former top Putin advisor was suffering from a neurological disorder at a European hospital. On Telegram, the TV personality said that she spoke with Chubais’ wife, Avdotya, and was told that he was suffering from Guillain-Barre syndrome.

Guillain-Barre happens when a person’s immune system harms the body’s nerves, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It can lead to muscle weakness and even paralysis. Some of the early symptoms of GBS are tingling and weakness, and some people with GBS usually first feel these symptoms in both legs. Then some people have weakness and tingling in their upper body and arms.

The symptoms can progress over hours, days, or weeks, but most people start to recover two to three weeks after symptoms first begin. As for recovery, it may take as little as a few weeks or as long as a few years, but most people recover fully. Some have permanent nerve damage, and some people have died from GBS.

Though he is suffering from a rare disorder in which the body’s immune system attacks the nerves, Sobchak said that Chubais’ condition was “stable." She quoted him as saying that it was “moderate, stable.”

Chubais had grown numb in his legs and hands. According to The New York Times, specialists in “chemical protection suits” investigated the room where the 67-year-old suddenly got sick. His illness has raised suspicion as other Kremlin opponents had also suddenly and mysteriously gotten sick in the past. Among them was Alexei Navalny, who was apparently poisoned in 2020.

As for Chubais, his was the highest-level of a series of official resignations, but he did not state his reason for quitting in March. Itt was presumed to be because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, reported ABC News.

Chubais, who is well-known in Russia, had most recently been Putin’s envoy to international organizations on sustainable development. He held high-profile posts since the early 1990s and oversaw privatization efforts under former Russian President Boris Yeltsin.