Chechen officials have denied reports suggesting that Ramzan Kadyrov was hospitalised in critical condition following his absence from the State Council meeting chaired by President Vladimir Putin in late December.
In response to these rumours and reports suggesting that Kadyrov was hospitalised, Chechnya’s National Policy Minister Akhmed Dudaev published on 2 January a video showing Kadyrov at his residence, stating that the head of the republic feels well and that reports of his hospitalisation were false.
The video was posted after a report by Russian independent media outlet Novaya Gazeta Europe that Kadyrov had been urgently taken to a medical facility in Moscow. In the recording published by Dudaev, Kadyrov says that he is in a satisfactory condition.
Commenting on the situation, Dudaev listed a number of events which, according to him, Kadyrov allegedly attended in person starting from 29 December. The minister said that videos from these events had not been recorded in advance, countering suggestions that they could have been filmed before reports of the Chechen leader’s health problems emerged.
‘So, devils, you will not get what you are waiting for. Our mood is combative’, Dudaev said.
Kadyrov himself also commented on his health condition. In the video, he said that he took part in Friday prayers on 2 January, and in the evening of the same day, he allegedly had a training session scheduled. In previous years, Kadyrov regularly published videos from the gym after reports appeared suggesting he was succumbing to life-threatening illnesses or diseases, however in 2025 such a video appeared only once — in October. In that recording, Kadyrov is seen lifting weights on a bench press several times before the video cuts off.
On Saturday, Kadyrov published another video showing him at the opening of a Qu’ran school in the village of Novy Sharoy in the Achkhoy-Martan district of Chechnya. The video includes footage from the outdoor event, and the weather conditions shown correspond to the current weather in the region.
Earlier, Novaya Gazeta Europe reported that Kadyrov was the only politician in the North Caucasus who did not report on his participation in the meeting of the State Council of Russia held on 25 December. He also does not appear in any of the official photographs from the event published by the Kremlin.
Journalists, citing a source close to Kadyrov, wrote that on the eve of the meeting, the Chechen leader was allegedly urgently hospitalised at the Central Clinical Hospital of the Presidential Administration of Russia. According to the source, Kadyrov was in a serious condition and doctors had to provide him with emergency assistance. The publication did not specify what exactly caused the dip in his health.
Earlier Novaya Gazeta Europe reported that Kadyrov was diagnosed with pancreatic necrosis in 2019.
Since then, sporadic reports in independent media and opposition Telegram channels have speculated about his possible hospitalisations and his health. In April 2024, Kadyrov attempted to dispel such rumours by releasing a video showing him exercising.
According to sources cited by Novaya Gazeta Europe, health problems affecting the head of Chechnya began to progress noticeably after his hospitalisation at the private Aymedi clinic in Grozny in early 2025. Since then, he has appeared in public far less frequently and has been less involved in the day-to-day governance of the region in his usual manner.
In May 2025, in the wake of persistent reports about his allegedly deteriorating health, Kadyrov released a video accompanied by a text stating: ‘I will live as long as I am destined to’, adding that ‘death is the path of every person’.
During a recent live phone-in, Kadyrov said that he had taken official leave four times over the course of the year. This is an atypical practice for Kadyrov, who had previously been known for an almost uninterrupted working schedule. In previous years, according to his own statements, Kadyrov usually took leave only for a short period during the New Year holidays. This year, his New Year ‘leave’ lasted almost two months.
During the same live broadcast, Kadyrov commented on his condition, mentioning ‘nervous disorders’ and a constant feeling of tension. He linked this state to concerns for Chechen fighters involved in the fighting in Ukraine.
Sources cited by Novaya Gazeta Europe claim that the head of Chechnya spends most of his time either at his residence or at the Aymedi clinic. According to the outlet, Kadyrov consulted German doctors twice throughout the year, with the most recent consultation allegedly taking place in November at a private clinic in Dubai, the UAE. One source presented as an officer of the regional Federal Security Service (FSB) told the outlet that ‘there is no hope for a good outcome’.
Elizaveta Chukharova
