Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has been living with a diagnosis of “pancreatic necrosis” for more than 5 years, Novaya Gazeta reported. The publication cited anonymous sources at the presidential hospital in Moscow, where the dictator was said to have been treated.
Kadyrov’s deterioration has reportedly prompted the Kremlin to begin work on a succession plan to maintain stability in the North Caucasian republic.
Last fall, unconfirmed reports surfaced on social media that Kadyrov was suffering from kidney problems, prompting him to appear in carefully staged videos in an attempt to dispel the rumours.
According to Novaya Gazeta, in January 2019, doctors initially diagnosed Kadyrov with acute pancreatic necrosis, a serious condition that can lead to death.
The following month, Kadyrov announced by decree that he had briefly handed over his powers to the speaker of the regional parliament without disclosing his illness. In January 2020, he issued another decree for a similar brief transfer of power.
The publication reported that Kadyrov’s health began to rapidly deteriorate in the spring of 2022, forcing him to miss a number of television appearances and raising suspicions about his periodic absence from public life.
In September 2023, Kadyrov was hospitalized at the elite Central Clinical Hospital in Moscow for about a month with acute lung failure after overdosing on sleeping pills that reportedly helped ease his pain.
Although doctors were able to stabilize his respiratory function at the time, the results of an MRI reportedly led Kadyrov’s family to conclude that he would not be able to make a full recovery.
It was at this time that the Kremlin began developing a succession plan in the event of Kadyrov’s death. Officials have not commented on the Novaya Gazeta report, and its details could not be independently verified.
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