Former Russian premier who fell ill released from hospital

Former Russian Prime Minister Yegor T. Gaidar was released from the hospital Monday following a mysterious illness that raised suspicions of another poisoning after a former KGB agent died in London of radiation poisoning.

Gaidar, a 50-year-old economist and leader of a Russian liberal opposition party, fell ill at a conference outside Dublin, Ireland, a day after former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko died of poisoning by the radioactive isotope polonium-210.

Doctors who treated Gaidar initially at a Dublin hospital concluded he was not poisoned by a radioactive substance but said his health had suffered sudden “radical changes.” Last week, Gaidar returned to Moscow and was hospitalized here.

Doctors could give a final diagnosis of Gaidar’s ailment as early as today, Gaidar’s spokesman Valery Natarov said.

The illness of Gaidar, who served briefly as prime minister in the 1990s under President Boris N. Yeltsin, added to speculation over Litvinenko’s death and who might be responsible.