Gaidar: poison caused illness

FORMER Russian prime minister Yegor Gaidar is certain his mysterious sudden illness last month was caused by poisoning. He said yesterday that opponents of the Russian authorities were likely responsible.

The 50-year-old liberal economist who served briefly as prime minister in the 1990s under President Boris Yeltsin and leader of a liberal opposition party became violently ill during a conference in Ireland on November 24.

The previous day, Alexander Litvinenko died in London, and the radioactive element polonium-210 was found in his body.