Yegor Gaidar points to political motive behind his poisoning

Russia's former acting PM Yegor Gaidar thinks he was poisoned and says enemies of Russia might have been involved. Mr Gaidar made the connection between his illness with Aleksandr Litvinenko’s death in London.

“Probably you would agree with me that such coincidences do not happen,” he stressed, speaking on the phone to Russia Today.

“It’s absolutely evident that the Russian leadership is not in any way interested in creating an empire isolated from the world. What happened during the past month and a half, of course, worsens the public image of Russia”, pointed out Mr Gaidar.

He believes that somebody, “who stands behind all this”, wants to worsen the Russian-Western relationships and interfere with the country’s ability to develop foreign policy.