Former Putin ally who fled Russia hospitalized with rare illness that made him suddenly lose feeling in his hands and legs: report

• Anatoly Chubais resigned as a top Putin advisor and left Russia shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine.
• On Sunday he was hospitalized in Europe after developing a rare neurological disorder, the NYT reported.

A former Vladimir Putin advisor who resigned and fled Russia shortly after the Ukraine invasion was this weekend hospitalized with a rare disorder that saw him suddenly losing feeling in his hands and legs, The New York Times reported.

Anatoly Chubais, 67, resigned as a top Kremlin advisor in protest over Russia's invasion of Ukraine and left the country in March, Bloomberg reported.

On Sunday, he was hospitalized in an undisclosed Western European country with Guillain-Barré syndrome, a rare and serious disease that attacks the nerves, his wife told the Russian journalist Ksenia Sobchak, The Times reported. Sobchak did not disclose what hospital Chubais was at.

Chubais' wife told Sobchak that her husband had lost feeling in his hands and legs, a common symptom of Guillain-Barre syndrome. It is not clear when the symptoms started and what caused them.

It is unknown what exactly causes Guillain-Barré syndrome in patients, but the condition often happens because of an infection of the airways or of the digestive system. Most people recover from the disease, though severe cases can be fatal.

Doctors treating Chubais have to examine him in "chemical protection suits," Sobchak reported, per The Times.

Chubais had been a prominent figure in the Kremlin since the 1990s, and most recently served as Putin's international climate envoy, The Times reported.

The former advisor did not publicly state his reason for resigning in March, although unnamed sources told Bloomberg it was because he was against Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which began on February 24.

His hospitalization comes a few months after the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich and Ukrainian negotiators negotiators experienced symptoms of a suspected poisoning.

The Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was also poisoned with the chemical agent Novichok in 2020.