Chechen Head Ramzan Kadyrov missed a pre-New Year meeting of Russia’s State Council chaired by President Vladimir Putin, with media reports suggesting he was hospitalised shortly before the event.
According to Russian independent media outlet Novaya Gazeta Europe, Chechnya was the only Russian region not represented at the State Council meeting, which took place on 25 December. The outlet cited a source claiming that Kadyrov had planned to attend the meeting in person and had arrived in Moscow on 24 December.
However, the source alleged that Kadyrov’s health condition sharply deteriorated later that night, after which he was taken by ambulance to the Central Clinical Hospital, which is managed by the presidential property management department. The same source said that no contingency plan had been prepared for Chechnya’s participation in the meeting, and the session went ahead without a delegation from the republic.
Another source described as being close to Kadyrov’s inner circle told Novaya Gazeta Europe that after receiving emergency medical assistance in Moscow, Kadyrov returned to Chechnya and has not appeared in public since. “In Moscow they barely managed to resuscitate him, after which he returned home and has not appeared in public since,” the outlet quoted the source as saying.
No official confirmation has been issued regarding Kadyrov’s alleged hospitalisation, and other sources have not independently verified the claims. According to the report, the deterioration of Kadyrov’s health is described by sources not as episodic, but as chronic.
Russian authorities and the Chechen leadership have not commented publicly on Kadyrov’s absence from the State Council meeting or on reports concerning his health.
