Chechen leader Kadyrov suffering from pancreatic necrosis, says Russian media outlet

The Russian socio-political newspaper Novaya Gazeta Europe has reported that Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov is seriously ill with pancreatic necrosis with no hope of recovery. [The Chechen Republic, also known as Chechnya, is a federal subject of the Russian Federation; the Ukrainian parliament has recognised it as the temporarily Russian-occupied territory of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria – ed.]

Source: Novaya Gazeta Europe

Quote: "The Chechen leader’s health has been a matter of concern for a year now. The fact that Kadyrov is ill has been officially denied, first and foremost by him and his entourage.

Yet some things cannot be concealed, namely the striking changes in the Chechen leader's appearance, behaviour and work schedule.

Kadyrov is sick, and the Kremlin faces a serious problem: how to painlessly prepare Russia’s most troublesome region for a change of power that may occur very soon."

Details: The newspaper said Kadyrov was first diagnosed with pancreatic necrosis in January 2019. At the time, the Chechen leader made no secret of the fact that he had been forced to take a leave of absence due to being "temporarily unfit for work". He claimed to be slightly unwell, suffering from a fever and flu, for which he was for some reason "put on a drip for just two days", as Kadyrov himself explained.

As Novaya Gazeta highlights, many were puzzled that a common cold would be treated with an IV, a feeling that turned into "persistent suspicion" in the autumn of 2019.

In October, Kadyrov disappeared from the public eye, with anonymous Telegram channels reporting that the Chechen leader was in poor health, possibly due to him having been poisoned.

Akhmed Dudaev, an aide to the Chechen leader, promptly took to Instagram to deny the poisoning story, saying, "Kadyrov is an ordinary person who can get sick, get bruised, catch the flu, etc."

The newspaper noted that in 2019, few people attached any significance to the fact that Kadyrov had lost so much weight. Novaya Gazeta points out that dramatic weight loss is the first symptom of actively developing pancreatic necrosis. This is a serious illness that causes severe pain, is difficult to treat and has a high mortality rate.

Kadyrov has reportedly undergone regular procedures, including surgery, at the Central Clinical Hospital of the Russian Presidential Administration at least twice a year since 2019.

Kadyrov's health began to deteriorate sharply in the spring of 2022, but it wasn’t until last year that it became a hot topic.

"Even the most inattentive observer could not fail to notice how Kadyrov had grown one and a half times bigger in size as a result of kidney failure and fluid stagnation in the lungs (the consequences of the underlying disease). The shape of his abdomen acquired all the signs of pancreatogenic ascites; he developed terrible shortness of breath, had difficulty speaking, walked slowly, and dressed too warmly for the Chechen climate," the newspaper said.

At that time, Kadyrov had begun to drop out of the public eye at the most inopportune moments. And in September, the newspaper said, he was admitted to intensive care.

According to Novaya Gazeta sources, the Chechen leader was admitted to hospital with acute pulmonary failure as a result of an overdose of the tranquilliser Dormicum. This powerful sedative is commonly used to calm patients before surgery. Kadyrov had reportedly been taking it because he was suffering from severe pain, insomnia and anxiety.

To stabilise his respiratory function, Kadyrov was plugged into a ventilator and put into a medically induced sleep – in other words, a "medically induced coma".

The newspaper said Kadyrov underwent an MRI scan of his brain last September, which showed that the disease was severely affecting him.  

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