Chechen warlord said to bury his doctor alive before coma

Days before ruthless Chechnyan warlord and Putin ally Ramzan Kadyrov was reportedly hospitalized in a coma, he was accused of burying his personal doctor alive in retaliation for trying to poison him.

The Russian Telegram channel VChK-OGPU, which claims to have inside information on Russian security forces, said on Sept. 10 that sources alleged Elkhan Suleymanov, former deputy prime minister of Chechnya and Kadyrov’s personal physician, had been targeted by the man called “Putin’s attack dog.”

“There is talk that [Suleymanov] was killed and buried alive in the ground,” the channel, which was cited by Ukrainian media and Ukraine’s internal affairs adviser Anton Gerashchenko, Newsweek reported.

Suleymanov’s death has not been confirmed, but the reports said he has not been since October 2022, when he was dismissed from his post as deputy prime minister.

“Suleymanov was an extraordinary figure in Kadyrov’s entourage — a Lezgin, not a Chechen, and had an impressive professional record in medicine,” Gerashchenko wrote on Sept. 10. “His abrupt disappearance and mysterious death raise many questions.”

On Friday, less than a week after Kadyrov, who has sent tens of thousands of his soldiers to fight in Ukraine, was accused of killing the doctor, the Chechen leader was hospitalized in critical condition, Andriy Yusov, a representative of Ukraine’s military intelligence told Ukrainian news outlet Obozrevatel.

“It is not about injuries. Other details require additional clarification. He has been ill for a long time, and we are talking about systemic health problems,” Yusov said.

“But he has been in a serious condition for the past few days,” he added.

Kadyrov’s hospitalization comes after he was reportedly gravely ill with kidney problems in March and brought in the United Arab Emerate’s chief nephrologist, or kidney specialist, to the Chechen capital of Grozny to treat him, Kazakh journalist Azamat Maytanov reported at the time.

Despite the reports, however, it remains unclear what Kadyrov’s condition is after he posted an enigmatic message on Russian social media site VK Friday night, alongside a video of him walking with a group of people.

“”The last step was different from the other,” read the post on Kadyrov’s page. “Love these difficult moments.. Don’t forget and understand the importance of life. Unlock each other, and set it straight.”

Meanwhile, a popular and anonymous Chechen Telegram channel, 1ADAT, which claims to be led by “people who have all been held captive by Kadryov’s forces and has endured their torture,” said they have not been able to confirm Kadyrov’s hospitalization.

“Rumors about Kadyrov’s coma and terrible condition are actively spreading online, and even the State Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine confirmed this,” the group wrote. “That’s why we have to make this comment. We are monitoring the situation, but we cannot confirm all this yet and at this stage these are rumors for us.”