Ramzan Kadyrov appears in video on his Telegram channel as rumors spread of him being in ‘critical condition’
Head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov’s Telegram channel posted a video of him walking in a park, likely in response to rumors about him being gravely ill.
“I strongly recommend everyone who can’t tell the truth from lies on the Internet to go for a walk in the fresh air, set your mind straight. The rain is wonderfully refreshing,” reads the video’s caption. It’s not clear where and when the video was recorded. Independent publication Agenstvo suggested that given the weather, the video was likely taken in the Chechen city of Grozny.
Reports about Kadyrov’s rapidly declining health first appeared in mid-September. On September 15, the Chechen opposition Telegram channel NIYSO wrote that Kadyrov had fallen into a coma. That same day, the Ukrainian outlet Obozrevatel reported that Kadyrov had already been in a coma for several days. Andriy Yusov, spokesperson for the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry, confirmed that Kadyrov was in “critical condition.”
On September 17, after the video of Kadyrov was posted on Telegram, Chechen human rights lawyer Abubakar Yangulbayev said that Kadyrov was dead, though no source was included in the post.
