Fake or sick visit?: Kadyrov allegedly shows up in a Moscow clinic

Fake or sick visit?
Kadyrov reportedly shows up in a Moscow clinic

September 20, 2023, 8:54 p.m

Listen to article

There is a lot of speculation about the state of health or even a possible death of the Chechen ruler Kadyrov. Now there is once again a video in which he says: “Thank the Almighty, I am alive and well.” The video comes from a clinic, but the patient is said to be someone else.

Following speculation about Ramzan Kadyrov’s health, the Chechen leader’s official social media channel spreads a denial attributed to Kadyrov personally. “Thank the Almighty, I am alive and well,” the text reads. “And I don’t understand at all why anyone should make such a fuss even when I’m sick.” The statement comes alongside a video showing Kadyrov at the bedside of a man described as “our dear uncle Magomed Abdulkhamidovich Kadyrov” being kissed on the hand and forehead by Ramzan Kadyrov. It remains unclear when the recordings were made. There was recently speculation in the media that the president of the Russian republic of Chechnya and a close ally of President Vladimir Putin was dead.

The text accompanying the video also states that Kadyrov paid his uncle a visit to the central hospital there during a trip to Moscow. It is the very clinic that was reported several times as a possible dialysis clinic for Kadyrov in connection with Kadyrov’s health – and in front of which several luxury cars with Chechen license plates were spotted by journalists. The video now published in Kadyrov’s name is fundamentally suitable for countering the rumors about his health or possible death in the media.

In the confusion surrounding Kadyrov’s health, there are now several possibilities:

1. He’s doing really well.
2. He is dead and that should be covered up.
3. He is ill and the seriousness of his illness may be trying to be played down.

Kadyrov’s state of health is in international focus, particularly in connection with the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. The Chechen leader has sided with the Kremlin since the start of Russia’s all-out war against Ukraine. His soldiers are deployed in Ukraine, and his underage sons are said to have already fought there.

Kadyrov came to power in 2007 and established a totalitarian regime in the Russian Caucasus republic. Opposition members are persecuted, and there are repeated unexplained deaths among government critics. There has been speculation for a long time that Kadyrov was ill.