According to Maytanov, it is Yassin Ibrahim El-Shahat, head of the renal department of Burjeel Hospital in Abu Dhabi. El-Shata is said to have been taken to the Chechen capital Grozny.
Poison kidney problems
Maytanov says Kadyrov has severe kidney problems and is in bad shape. His claim is confirmed by Leonid Nevzlin, a Russian oligarch and opponent of Putin. Kadyrov’s health problems prevented him from attending President Putin’s February 21 annual speech in Moscow.
In recent weeks, speculation about Kadyrov’s health has plummeted. Recent images show how the 46-year-old Putin ally has looked unhealthy in recent months and can barely keep his eyes open. Maytanov also writes that according to Akhmed Zakayev (the former prime minister of Chechnya who now lives in exile, ed), Kaydrov is a drug addict.
Poisoning opponents is not an unknown method in Putin’s Russia. In 2006 the runaway Russian spy Litvinenko was eliminated in London with a cup of radioactive tea, in 2018 it was the turn of the Russian defector Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. And just in March of last year, Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich went temporarily blind after an apparent poisoning during peace talks with Ukrainian negotiators.
And now Kadyrov himself. While three weeks ago he posted a message on Telegram reporting that one of his top generals was poisoned by letter. He was about Apti Alaudinov, the commander of Kadyrov’s special forces, Akhmat special forces. Alaudinov fell ill after taking a letter, his condition seems to be stable.
Power struggle
The fact that Kadyrov was poisoned fuels rumors that there is a power struggle going on inside the Kremlin. Kadyrov, like Wagner’s boss Prigozhin, has regularly spoken disparagingly of the Russian military, its commander Gerasimov and Defense Minister Shoygu. Kadyrov is a staunch supporter of Putin, but also the third highest-ranking Russian military officer. He regularly advocates the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine.