According to Ukrainian military intelligence, Chechnya’s leader Ramzan Kadyrov is in critical condition.
“The information is confirmed by various sources from medical and political circles,” Andriy Yusov, a representative of Ukraine’s military intelligence, told Obozrevatel, which first reported the news. “There is information that the war criminal Kadyrov is in a serious condition and the diseases that arose there have worsened and caused such a serious condition.”
His poor health was not due to injury, Yusov added.
“It’s not about injuries. Further details require additional clarification. “He has been ill for a long time and we are talking about systemic health problems,” he said. “He has been in serious condition for several days.”
UNIAN and United24 Media also reported the news.
Kadyrov, a Kremlin loyalist nicknamed “Putin’s soldier” and “Putin’s attack dog,” has sent troops to Ukraine to help Russian President Vladimir Putin in his war in Ukraine. Only in July of this year he said that he had sent a detachment of Chechen troops to fight in Bakhmut. The department had signed a contract with the Russian Defense Ministry at the beginning of the year, in stark contrast to Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, who had protested against the commitment of his mercenaries to Moscow.
Putin thanked Kadyrov at a meeting in March for helping Russia wage war in Ukraine, the Kremlin said.
“We are carrying out all your orders and aiming for a victorious outcome,” Kadyrov said at the time.
Rumors about Kadyrov’s health have been circulating for months. Chechnya’s former deputy prime minister, Akhmad Zakayev, told Germany’s Bild newspaper last year that Kadyrov was suffering from severe kidney disease.
Kadyrov has tried to refute rumors about his poor health. This March, he told his friends that he wasn’t sick, just unusually bloated. “I am attributed to various illnesses: sometimes I have problems with my kidneys, sometimes with my liver,” he said.
Kadyrov’s health appeared to deteriorate in recent days. Obozrevatel reported earlier this week that Kadyrov fell into a coma and was flown to Moscow for treatment. He was reportedly returned to Chechnya.