SHOCKING pictures show a former Putin ally lying in his hospital bed partially paralysed and unable to close his eyes. Anatoly Chubais, the most senior Russian official to quit over the war in Ukraine, was rumoured to have been poisoned. East2WestFormer Putin ally Anatoly Chubais has been left paralysed by a rare condition[/caption] East2WestHe was formerly a close ally of Putin before fleeing Russia over the war in Ukraine[/caption] East2WestRumours swirled that he was poisoned for his disloyalty to the Kremlin[/caption] The 67-year-old, once the Kremlin chief of staff and a former deputy prime minister, fled Russia in March and resigned from his post as Putin‘s envoy to international organisations. When he fell ill, he was living in exile on the Italian island of Sardinia. He has been formally diagnosed with the rare neurological disorder Guillain-Barré syndrome. Chubais – who led the programme to privatise Soviet industries in the 1990s – has been left with partial facial paralysis and can no longer walk or even close his eyes. READ MORE ON VLADIMIR PUTIN VLAD TO WORSE Putin's 'mistress' hit with sanctions amid rumours she's having his 8th child 'LIGHTENING SPEED' Putin to arm navy with hypersonic missiles in chilling warning to West He had been a top Kremlin official before Putin was promoted to his first job in the federal government. News of his stricken state sparked fears that he had been poisoned, with specialists in hazmat suits descending on the site where he fell ill. However, poisoning hasn’t been ruled out, and Italian secret services are reportedly still investigating the case. Western intelligence fears that Russian labs have been trying to create toxins that mimic real diseases. 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Chubais is the latest senior Russian figure to suffer poisoning or die in suspicious circumstances in recent months, as rumours fly that Putin has tried to silence his growing army of critics. A post on the General SVR Telegram channel, which claims to be run by a Kremlin insider, claimed that Chubais had been named on a so-called ‘hit list’, although provided no evidence for this allegation. The list was made up of people supposedly hostile to Putin crony Nikolai Patrushev, the head of Russia’s security council. Last month, there was allegedly a mysterious assassination bid on Patrushev, 71, according to the General SVR channel. Patrushev, a former head of the FSB secret service, is seen as Putin’s stand-in when he has medical treatment and is also a key architect of the war in Ukraine. His son, Dmitry, 44, the agriculture minister, is reportedly being groomed as Putin’s ultimate successor. > His legs and arms do not work well, his eyes cannot be closed, and > he has partial facial paralysis > Ksenia SobchakRussian journalist “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,” the channel said. “This is more like an attempt by the secretary of the security council to settle scores with old ‘well-wishers’ by eliminating people who are personally objectionable to him in competing clans.” Also included in the list were allegedly “several people to whom Putin feels personal dislike or has some doubts about sincere loyalty”. These included Anatoly Chubais, the former chairman of the board of RUSNANO and Putin’s special representative for relations with international organisations. Other Putin foes allegedly poisoned by Kremlin hit squads include Alexander Litvinenko and ex-spy Sergei Skripal. A considerable number of mysterious deaths of senior Russian intelligence and business figures have been reported since the start of the war. ReutersA number of allies of Nikolai Patrushev have reportedly been placed on a hit list[/caption] Last month, former Russian spy chief Yevgeny Lobachev was found shot dead in the entrance to a Moscow apartment building. He shot himself with a former Soviet service pistol after suffering from health problems and “financial difficulties”, Russian media reported. His wife called the police to say her husband had gone for a walk in the morning but never returned home. The death had eerie similarities to the death of a fellow former spy less than a month earlier. On June 15, former Major General of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service Lev Sotskov was found dead in his apartment. He was 90 years and, according to Russian official sources, had also reportedly been suffering from unspecified health conditions. In April, the bodies of a top Russian banker and his family were discovered at his Moscow apartment, after the bank had been slapped with Western sanctions. Vladislav Avayev, 51, was found dead along with his wife Yelena, 47, and his 13-year-old daughter Maria at their home in the Russian capital. Avayev was formerly the vice-president of Gazprombank, Russia’s third-largest bank and one of the main channels for payments for Russian oil and gas. Among the Russian oligarchs who have died since the beginning of the conflict, include at least four gas industry executives. In chilling echoes of Avayev’s death, Russian tycoon Sergey Protosenya, 55, his wife Natalya, 53, and his 18-year-old daughter Maria were discovered dead at their luxury Spanish villa. Protosenya, who boasted a fortune of over £333million, did not leave a suicide note before allegedly hanging himself in the courtyard. Natalia and Maria had been hacked to death in their beds with an axe in the Lloret de Mar on Spain’s Costa Brava, according to reports. Police found the gruesome scene after the couple’s teenage son, who was in France at the time, raised concerns. Meanwhile, just one day after Putin’s bloody invasion, the body of energy giant Gazprom’s deputy general director Alexander Tyulakov was found. His hung body was discovered by his lover in his £500,000 home in Leningrad. But according to reports, he had been badly beaten before his death – raising speculation over how he died. While weeks before the invasion on January 29, Gazprom exec Leonid Shulman’s mutilated body was discovered on the bathroom floor at the same gated housing development where Tyulakov was later found. READ MORE ON THE SUN honey, we're home Love Island finalists look ecstatic as they get mobbed arriving home GRAN DESIGNS I won £1m jackpot & bought 3 houses 400 yards apart - I’ve got a good reason He was discovered with multiple stab wounds in a pool of blood, next to a note, although a knife found in the bathtub would have too out-of-reach for the wounds to be self-inflicted. Many other former close allies of Putin have either died, been jailed, or disappeared from the public eye in recent months, as rumours swirl of a possible coup. HELP THOSE FLEEING CONFLICT WITH THE SUN’S UKRAINE FUND PICTURES of women and children fleeing the horror of Ukraine’s devastated towns and cities have moved Sun readers to tears. Many of you want to help the five million caught in the chaos — and now you can, by donating to The Sun’s Ukraine Fund. Give as little as £3 or as much as you can afford and every penny will be donated to the Red Cross on the ground helping women, children, the old, the infirm and the wounded. DONATE HERE TO HELP THE SUN’S FUND OR TEXT TO 70141 FROM UK MOBILES £3 — text SUN£3 £5 — text SUN£5 £10 — text SUN£10 Texts cost your chosen donation amount (e.g. £5) +1 standard message (we receive 100%). For full T&Cs visit redcross.org.uk/mobile The Ukraine Crisis Appeal will support people in areas currently affected and those potentially affected in the future by the crisis. In the unlikely event that the British Red Cross raise more money than can be reasonably and efficiently spent, any surplus funds will be used to help them prepare for and respond to other humanitarian disasters anywhere in the world. For more information visit https://donate.redcross.org.uk/appeal/disaster-fund
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