Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has appeared in a video online just days after unconfirmed reports suggested the key Kremlin ally was critically ill.
In a video posted to Kadyrov's Telegram account, the leader of the southern Russian republic filmed himself walking through the rain in an unspecified location, with a separate video showing a tarmac path with turf and a line of trees appearing to be captured from Kadyrov's point of view.
"I strongly advise everyone who cannot distinguish truth from lies on the internet to take a walk in the fresh air and put their thoughts in order," Kadyrov wrote in the caption of the two videos, uploaded to social media on Sunday.
Newsweek is not able to independently verify when, nor where, the video appearing to show Kadyrov was recorded. The Russian Foreign Ministry has been contacted for comment via email.
The video comes after a Ukrainian intelligence spokesperson told eastern European outlet Nexta that Kadyrov, who took over as Chechen leader in 2007, "has been sick for a long time, and we are talking about systemic health problems."
Kadyrov "has been in a very serious condition for the past few days," Andriy Yusov, a spokesman for Ukraine's Main Directorate of Intelligence, told Ukrainian outlet Ukrinform on Friday.
Reports have presented conflicting information about Kadyrov's health. "Some say that he has already died, some that he is in critical condition and fell into a coma due to severe kidney failure or that he was poisoned," Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser with Ukraine's Interior Ministry, said in a post to X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday.
Unconfirmed reports have also suggested Kadyrov blamed his physician, Elkhan Suleymanov, of attempting to poison him. Newsweek could not independently verify these reports.
One Russian-language Telegram channel with more than 224,000 subscribers reported on Sunday that Kadyrov had died over the weekend, although there is no evidence to support this. A Ukrainian outlet also reported early on Sunday that the Chechen leader had died on Saturday evening, Moscow time, without providing corroborating information.
A video of Kadyrov walking in the rain has appeared on his Telegram channel.
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) September 17, 2023
In the video, he says: "Do sports". He says something else, but I can't make head nor tails of what he says. Maybe someone in the comments will understand him?
The caption under the video:
"I highly… pic.twitter.com/END6yUgF44
Kadyrov is one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's most staunch allies, and experts suggest the Chechen leader is heavily reliant on the Kremlin to maintain his grip on power. Putin and Kadyrov have a "father-son relationship," but one that hinges on "mutual dependency," experts previously told Newsweek.
He has publicly thrown his wholehearted support behind Moscow's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, and has committed Chechen fighters loyal to his regime to Russia's war effort.
