Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov emerges on Telegram knocking down health rumours

Amid speculations of critical health and even death, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov appears to be just fine, according to a video circulating on the internet. In a clip posted on his official Telegram handle, Kadyrov dismissed reports about his health and expressed frustration over it. 

"I am alive and well and I don't understand at all why there should be a fuss even in the case of my illness?" he wrote, adding that the situation reveals to the public the lies that it is being fed. "Although this has its advantages - now the audience knows which media and which persons openly lie to their readers," he added. 

The clip features the 46-year-old sitting on a hospital bed next to his uncle Magomed Abdulkhamidovich Kadyrov, who is "recovering from illness" and seeking treatment at Central Clinical Hospital in the Russian capital of Moscow. While it is unclear when the video was filmed, it surfaced days after it was reported that the Putin ally was in a critical condition. 

What did the initial reports say? 

Kadyrov, who commands military forces in Chechnya, was said to be receiving treatment after images of cars purportedly featuring Chechen licence plates were clicked at a hospital. Reports suggested that he had gotten an unsuccessful kidney transplant.

A post shared by Ukrainian intelligence on Friday, September 15 revealed that "There is information that the war criminal Kadyrov is in a serious condition — existing illnesses have worsened and caused such a serious condition." "It is not about injuries. Other details require additional clarification. He has been ill for a long time, and we are talking about systemic health problems. But he has been in a serious condition for the past few days,” a representative of Ukraine’s military intelligence branch added. 

On Sunday, the leader also shared a video of himself walking in the rain. Sky News located the clip at the residence of the head of the Chechen Republic in central Grozny. Kadyrov is also viewed as an ally of deceased Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and somewhat a critic of Russia's military hierarchy. In a post on Telegram, he called Prigozhin's demise a 'great loss' and described him as 'distinguished'.