In 2019, Ramzan Kadyrov is said to have been diagnosed with pancreatitis with acute tissue death – a rare disease that can lead to death. Since then, he has been regularly treated at a hospital in Moscow, a source at the hospital told Novaya Gazeta. Among other things, he is said to have been operated on several times.
Last fall, he reportedly suffered acute lung failure and was admitted to hospital with a ventilator, where he was placed in a coma.
– The leader as we knew him will be gone, the illness will affect him a lot, says a source close to a Russian lawyer and ally of Kadyrov, to Novaya Gazeta.
His condition is now so serious that the Kremlin has begun looking for a successor, sources told Novaya Gazeta. The newspaper singles out the commander of the Chechen special forces volunteer organization, Apti Alaudinov, as a potential candidate.
Rumors that the Chechen leader was in a coma began to abound in September of last year when various Telegram channels and the Ukrainian intelligence service spread the information. Kadyrov himself went out and denied this by publishing a video clip of him walking in nature. It is unclear when the film was shot. In connection with this, the Kremlin also launched a PR campaign in which they painted the picture that Kadyrov was in good health. Among other things, he participated in a public meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, writes Meduza.
Ramzan Kadyrov has been president of the Russian sub-republic of Chechnya since 2007 and is a member of Russia’s ruling United Russia party. He is close to Vladimir Putin and has been repeatedly accused of having links to torture and murder.
