(Reuters) – The official social media channel of Ramzan Kadyrov, strongman leader of Russia’s Chechen Republic and strong ally of President Vladimir Putin, on Wednesday showed a video of him and dismissed social media reports that he was in poor health.
When asked about the reports, which alleged that the 46-year-old had been treated at a Moscow hospital, the Kremlin said this week that it had no information on the subject.
But a video posted on Kadyrov’s Telegram channel showed him sitting at the bedside of a man said to be “our dear UNCLE Magomed Abdulkhamidovich Kadyrov” and kissing him on the hand and head. It was not clear when the video had been shot.
“Praise be to the Almighty, 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?” read the posting, purportedly written by Kadyrov himself.
Spokespeople for the Chechen leader did not answer repeated phone calls earlier in the week seeking comment on the reports that he was ill.
(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Kevin Liffey, Editing by William Maclean)
