Many were skeptical when Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov appeared in a video on his Telegram – following reports that he is seriously ill and in a coma.
Now he is once again trying to convince the doubters.
“Now the audience knows which media and which people are openly lying to their readers,” he writes in a new post.
He is called “Putin’s attack dog” and has been a faithful supporter of Putin and his war of invasion in Ukraine.
But for several months there has been speculation about Chechnya’s 46-year-old leader Ramzan Kadyrov’s health. And last week, Ukrainian intelligence said he was in a coma.
When he posted two video clips on his Telegram on Sunday, many people were therefore skeptical.
In the film clips, Kadyrov can be seen walking smiling. There he also criticizes those who claimed he was ill.
– I strongly recommend that anyone who cannot distinguish truth from lies on the Internet goes for a walk, gets some fresh air and puts their thoughts in order, he said then.
The AFP news agency reported that they were unable to establish when the clips were recorded – and speculation has continued.
The explanation: Sick uncle
Now he has once again used his social channel to convince those who still doubt.
In a post on the platform, he writes that he is “alive and well”. In addition, he claims that it is actually his uncle who is being treated in hospital – which he believes has contributed to the false reputation.
“Even in a hospital bed, he behaves well and does not miss the opportunity to give orders to the members of our large family. I cheered up my dear uncle, wished him a speedy recovery and conveyed words of encouragement from my dear mother,” the post reads.
He has also shared a picture where a man is lying in a hospital bed with tubes in his nose, surrounded by both hospital staff and relatives. This video has also not been able to be verified as genuine.
“Now the audience knows”
In the post, it says that he does not understand why there has been a discussion at all, but believes that it benefits him after all.
“Now the audience knows which media and which people are openly lying to their readers”.
Ramzan Kadyrov was elected president of Chechnya in 2007, but is often referred to as a dictator. Chechnya has been accused of carrying out both murder and torture of its opponents and has been accused by the human rights organization Human Rights Watch, among others, of crimes against humanity.