The regime in the Russian sub-republic of Chechnya is trying to refute media reports that the republic’s leader, hardliner Ramzan Kadyrov, is seriously ill.
In a video, Kadyrov is seen working out in a gym. With a doctor.
The Russian newspaper Novaja gazeta Europe, which since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 mainly operates from Latvia, reports that Kadyrov was already diagnosed in 2019 with the rare disease pancreatitis with acute tissue death.
Started looking for a successor
According to the newspaper, the situation is so bad that the Kremlin has started looking for a successor. But the hard-line leader’s press office is trying to fight back. In a clip released by Kadyrov’s press service, he is seen taking part in a meeting, seemingly completely motionless. Kadyrov is also heard speaking slowly, almost slurring.
Later, another clip was posted on Kadyrov’s social media. In that clip, the hardline leader is seen smilingly lifting weights and wrestling in a gym. But it is not possible to determine from the training video whether Kadyrov is in good health or not. That’s what the journalists at Agentstvo, a Russian site for investigative journalism, think. Among other things, they highlight that one of the men Kadyrov is seen training with is Umar Baisarov, former chief physician at a hospital in Chechnya’s capital, Grozny.
Makes the journalists doubt
Other details in the video that make the journalists doubt are that the video is very heavily edited and that Kadyrov’s training partners train with lower weights than Kadyrov himself. In a sequence where Kadyrov practices bench press, it is also unclear if he is helped by someone who is not seen in the picture.