“Rumors and Talk”?
Ukrainian intelligence: Kadyrov in a coma
September 16, 2023, 6:12 p.m
What is the health status of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov? According to the spokesman for the Ukrainian secret service, he is said to be in a serious condition. An adviser to Kadyrov reacts promptly and publishes a video.
Once again there is speculation about the health of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov. These were initiated on Friday by the Ukrainian news portal Obozrevatel. The medium claims – just like the state news agency Ukrinform – on statements by the spokesman for the Ukrainian military intelligence service, Andriy Yusov. Accordingly, Kadyrov is said to have been in a coma for several days and was first flown to Moscow. However, they were unable to help him there, which is why he was returned to Chechnya. The current plan is to move him abroad for treatment, probably to the United Arab Emirates.
According to Yusov, Kadyrov’s illness worsened, leading to his serious condition. But the cause of the illness is not an injury. “The information is confirmed by various sources in medical and political circles. There are no injuries involved. He has been ill for a long time. We are talking about systematic health problems,” said Jussow.
The Kremlin-critical former Russian Duma deputy Gennady Gudkov also commented on Kadyrov’s health. The Ukrainian portal dialog quotes him as saying: “I called some well-known Chechens and asked if his health was really bad. According to their information, he has kidney problems. There was even an operation, a transplant, but it failed, as if some kind of infection had broken out would be. His health is very bad.”
Rapid response in Chechnya
The veracity of these reports cannot be independently verified. According to the Russian newspaper “Noviye Izvestia” and the agency RIA Novosti However, the reaction in Chechnya was not long in coming. On Friday evening, Umar Daudov, an advisor to Kadyrov, published a video of the Chechen leader taking an evening walk with his family. “Rumors that Kadyrov is seriously ill are regularly spread by opposition and pro-Ukrainian television channels,” writes RIA Novosti. “The head of the region himself and his staff have repeatedly denied it.”
Russian newspaper Noviye Izvestia also has an explanation for the “rumors and talk” about Kadyrov’s health. “The reason for this is the appearance of Ramzan Akhmatovich, who has become noticeably fatter in the last year and a half and uses the tone of a seriously ill person in his public appearances on social media.”
At the same time, “Noviye Izvestia” does not seem to be entirely convinced by the video that has now been published: “However, such a refutation raises questions. Firstly, why did Kadyrov himself, who is no stranger to public appearances in various forms, not do this? Secondly: why Should one resort to Instagram, which is banned in Russia, in such an important matter as counter-propaganda and refutation of malicious rumors?” The newspaper is also surprised by the silence on Kadyrov’s official website. Photos of Kadyrov at a public event were last published on Monday. There are no event announcements for September either.
At Ippen-Media, Caucasus expert Harold Chambers from the Foreign Policy Research Institute contradicted the report that Kadyrov was in critical condition. All that could be said is that the Chechen leader’s health has deteriorated and he occasionally carries a medical device on his hand. Chambers believes it is confirmed that Kadyrov suffers from kidney problems.
Parallels to Wagner boss Prigozhin
At the beginning of this year, the former deputy prime minister of Chechnya, Ahmed Zakayev, reported kidney problems. Kadyrov had a clinic director flown in from Abu Dhabi who specializes in kidneys. He doesn’t trust the Moscow doctors.
Ramzan Kadyrov is an “agitator” in the Ukraine war, who repeatedly outdoes former President Dmitry Medvedev with radical statements and has sought publicity through his own media channels in the past. However, Kadyrov is said to have made enemies with his criticism of Russian warfare – for example because of its failures. “Certain people from the security apparatus, especially in the secret services, would kill Kadyrov today if they were allowed to,” Eastern Europe expert Stefan Meister told ntv.de in March. For a while, the Chechen leader went from being the head of a private army to becoming a player in the political game of forces in Russia.
All of this draws parallels to another actor: Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin. Also a man known as a hardliner, who used his own media channels extensively, who repeatedly criticized the Russian conduct of the war, who was said to have political ambitions and who commanded a private army. Prigozhin recently died in a plane crash. In many places in the West it is assumed that the mercenary chief, who fell into disgrace after his “March on Moscow” at the latest, was eliminated by the Russian leadership.
So could Kadyrov suffer a similar fate to Prigozhin? Unlike Prigozhin, however, the Chechen leader did not instigate a coup. Opposition politician Gudkov, who left Russia in 2021, still expected at least difficulties. “There will also be a conflict with Kadyrov, I’m sure. Because Kadyrov is one of the biggest opponents of Russian statehood,” he predicted in an interview with the Ukrainian TV channel two weeks ago Freedom on Youtube.