Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov responded to recent health rumors by releasing a video that says, “illness and death are the path of every person,” neither confirming nor denying the rumors.
Kadyrov purportedly asked Russian leader Vladimir Putin to relieve him of his duties recently amid growing speculations about his health and political future, but he later retracted the statement, saying he was misunderstood.
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In a video shared by his official Telegram account on Monday, Kadyrov said, “Our time is predetermined, we must live it consciously, without spreading empty rumors and sowing discord.”
The video, which consists of him walking silently, is accompanied by his voiceover that addresses the health rumors without confirming or denying them.
“I hear gossip about my illness more and more often. They say I’m dying, I don’t have much left,” he said.
“First, illness and death are the path of every person. None of those who live have avoided this path. Secondly, neither illness nor threat shortens life. Its length is determined only by the one who gave the gift of breath,” he added.
He also called those spreading the rumors “gossipers without courage” who “hide abroad like mice.”
“If I am destined to live 50, 60, or 70 years, I will live them as intended, and no one will take away a single day,” he added.
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Health rumors surrounding Kadyrov have persisted for some years.
On May 5, Novaya Gazeta Europe reported he was preparing to hand over power and had named his teenage son Adam as his likely successor.
The outlet previously reported in 2024 that Kadyrov had suffered from pancreatic necrosis for more than five years, a condition with a high death rate.
In 2024, Kyiv Post exclusively reported that following rumors that Ramzan Kadyrov had a fatal illness, a senior pro-Ukrainian Chechen rebel officer said work was in progress to create an insurgent army to liberate Chechnya from Kremlin rule.
Elected president of Chechnya in 2007 after the death of his father, Kadyrov has maintained a tight grip on the majority-Muslim Chechnya Republic inside Russia amid widespread reports of extrajudicial killings and torture of opponents.
Kadyrov’s Chechen fighters have been fighting in Ukraine since the launch of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Kadyrovites – a name coined for Chechen military personnel loyal to Kadyrov – were involved in numerous combat operations within Ukraine, including Mariupol and Sievierodonetsk.
He also claimed he would send his teenage sons – aged 14, 15, and 16 – to fight in Ukraine, though there have not been confirmed reports of him doing so.
In May 2024, Kadyrov appointed one of his sons, then 18-year-old Akhmat Kadyrov, as the Minister of the Chechen Republic for Physical Culture and Sports in the son’s second ministerial posting the same year.
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