INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has been living with a diagnosis of pancreatic necrosis for more than five years, the independent news website
deteriorating condition has reportedly prompted the Kremlin to start working on a succession plan to maintain stability in the North
Caucasus republic.Unverified claims circulating on social media last fall said that Kadyrov was suffering from kidney problems, prompting
rapidly deteriorating in the spring of 2022, forcing him to miss a number of televised appearances and raising suspicion about his periodic
absence from the public eye.In September 2023, Novaya Europe said Kadyrov was hospitalized at Moscow's elite Central Clinical Hospital for
about a month with acute pulmonary failure after overdosing on sleeping pills that reportedly helped him relieve the pain
The video cuts in and out of close-up shots of Kadyrov, who does not move his body and can be heard speaking with difficulty.Officials have
not commented on Novaya Gazeta Europe's report and its details could not be independently verified.Kadyrov has ruled Chechnya, a Russian
region in the North Caucasus that was devastated by two bloody wars between Moscow and separatist forces in the 1990s and early 2000s, with
an iron fist since Putin formally appointed him in 2007.Critics have accused Kadyrov of grave human rights abuses, including systemic
torture and extrajudicial killings.
