Today (below) La Russophobe is pleased to present a special edition, a set of posts devoted to following up on the Litivinenko killing. We begin with a translation original to La Russophobe from the Russian press, followed by a set of blog posts and media articles analyzing this latest neo-Soviet ourtage. Also included is YouTube footage of Litivenko's last speech, at the Frontline club. This focus could not be more timely in light of, as La Russophobe notes with horror, the recent news that Yegor Gaidar has fallen ill in Moscow with a "mysterious illness" that doctors cannot diagnose after a vist to Ireland. Gaidar was the driving force behind the "shock therapy" move towards democracy under Boris Yeltsin, believing that Russia was fully capable of blacksliding into a neo-Soviet state and therefore needed to rapidly disperse assets away from the center. As such, Gaidar is obviously a major target of Kremlin ire, and his sickness coming in such close proximity to the demise of Litvinenko is horrifying indeed, and even more so in close proximity to the actions of his daughter, previously documented on La Russophobe, in hanging a public banner calling the Kremlin thugs "bastards" for altering the elections law. Even if the illness is purely natural, it's a reminder of the nature of the problem we face.

Gaidar's colleague Anatoli Chubais was quoted as saying on NTV: "Yegor Gaidar on 24 November was in the balance between life and death. Could this be simply some sort of natural illness? According to what the most professional doctors, who have first-hand knowledge of the situation, say -- no. A poisoning, an attempted murder: this is precisely the version that needs to be examined. For me there is no doubt that the deathly Politkovskaya-Litvinenko-Gaidar chain, which by a miracle was not completed, would have been extremely attractive for the supporters of an unconstitutional, forceful change of power in Russia." He told RIA Novosti: "This deadly design would have been extremely attractive for those supporting unconstitutional, violent means of changing power in Russia."

Gaidar's daughter told Kommersant: "The doctors are leaning towards the conclusion that all the symptoms... point specifically to poisoning." The doctors will make their final diagnosis on Friday, with “a poison unknown to civilian medicine” deemed the most likely cause of his illness, she said. The Novye Izvestia daily quoted Maria Gaidar saying that her father had eaten a “simple breakfast of fruit salad and a cup of tea.” Shortly after, Gaidar fainted. “I went up to him. He was lying on the floor unconscious. There was blood coming from his nose, he was vomiting blood. This went on for more than half an hour,” Maria Gaidar said. According to Novye Izvestia, Gaidar then remained unconscious for three hours in hospital and for a full day his life was considered in danger.