Ramzan Kadyrov Appears in Hospital Video Amid Health Speculation

Ramzan Kadyrov's Telegram channel has released a video showing the Chechen leader in a hospital, as speculation continues to mount over his health.

The Telegram post sought to dispel rumors that Kadyrov, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, is seriously ill or even dead. Speculation about his health intensified last week when Ukrainian military intelligence spokesperson Andriy Yusov said that the Chechen leader had been unwell for a long time with systemic health problems.

Kadyrov "has been in a very serious condition for the past few days," Yusov told Ukrainian outlet Ukrinform on September 15.

A post appeared on Kadyrov's Telegram channel, saying that he is alive and well. He has been going to the Moscow Central Clinical Hospital to visit his uncle Khas-Magomed Kadyrov, who was undergoing treatment there.

Ramzan Kadyrov's channel released a video of the Chechen leader sitting in a hospital room next to his uncle. In the clip, a person who appears to be a doctor says that Khas-Magomed Kadyrov has been in hospital for a fortnight and adds: "Today is September 20."

Newsweek couldn't immediately verify when or where the video was shot, but Kadyrov doesn't verbally address speculation about his health in the footage, only in the accompanying text. Kadyrov isn't shown up close in the video.

Newsweek has contacted Russia's Foreign Ministry via email for comment.

"I will comment on the rumors surrounding my health condition. Praise be to Allah Almighty, I am alive and well and I don't understand why even in case of my illness there should be a fuss? Although there is a good thing in it—now the audience knows which media and which individuals are blatantly lying to their readers," the Telegram post read.

The leader of the southern Russian republic also appeared in a video on his Telegram channel days earlier, on September 17. It showed Kadyrov walking through the rain in an unspecified location.

"I strongly advise everyone who cannot distinguish truth from lies on the internet to take a walk in the fresh air and put their thoughts in order," the video's caption read.

Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser with Ukraine's Interior Ministry, has weighed in on the speculation, writing on X, formerly Twitter, on September 17: "Some say that he has already died, some that he is in critical condition and fell into a coma due to severe kidney failure or that he was poisoned."

Kadyrov, who has served as Chechnya's leader since 2007, has been accused by international groups of overseeing human-rights abuses, including abductions, torture, extrajudicial killings, and repression.

His Chechen fighters have fought alongside Putin's troops in the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

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