Amid reports that he is gravely ill, the long-time ruler of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, made a rare public appearance over the weekend. On July 19, his Telegram channel shared footage of him walking down one of Grozny’s central promenades, greeting people and posing for photos. Throughout the video, Kadyrov speaks very little, his movements appear strained, and his face remains largely emotionless. Journalists at Agentstvo used facial recognition software to study the supposedly random passersby and identified several people with connections to the Kadyrov regime.
Journalists identified one of the people who talked to Kadyrov as Zelimkhan Musaev, a former police officer who participated in a February 2022 protest where demonstrators destroyed effigies of Judge Saidi Yangulbaev’s family. The family includes Yangulbaev’s wife, who was later abducted from Nizhny Novgorod and imprisoned on bogus charges, and his sons, who run a popular opposition media outlet. According to Agentstvo, Kadyrov also encountered Inal Khuchiev, a Ukraine war veteran who has worked as a mentor with the pro-Kremlin youth group the Young Guard.
Ramzan Kadyrov has conducted in-person meetings only twice since early April 8, 2025. A year earlier, Novaya Gazeta Europe reported that he was diagnosed with pancreatic necrosis in 2019. Kadyrov’s condition reportedly stabilized in late 2024, but Chechen officials are nevertheless preparing for a change in leadership.