The leader of Russia’s constituent republic of Chechnya is said to have fallen ill with Covid-19. According to the media, he was flown to a Moscow hospital with lung damage on Thursday. Kadyrov is responsible for the massive persecution of gays in the country, which became internationally known in 2017 and has since been severely condemned.

Reports of the arrest, murder and torture of homosexuals in the North Caucasus first appeared in 2017. Queer activists from Russia sounded the alarm again at the beginning of 2019: despite public attention, the “gay purges” are said to have continued. Chechnya has therefore for years been considered one of the most queer-hostile places in the world. In the Spartacus Gay Travel Index for the last two years, Chechnya ranked last place.

Ramzan Kadyrov is said to be massively responsible for the suffering of the community in the Russian republic. The Chechen President described the cries for help from human rights activists as lies – there were no gays in the country, so they could not be murdered. He explained:

“This is nonsense. We do not have people like that here. We don’t have gays. If there are any, bring them to Canada. Take them far away from us so we don’t have them at home. If there are any here, take them with you to purify our blood”.

Media reports of serious illness

On Thursday, Russian media announced that Kadyrov was flown to a Moscow hospital. A few days earlier, he had shown flu-like symptoms. According to the Russian news agency Baza, his lungs are already damaged. The reports have not been officially confirmed. Baza had reported early on the Corona disease of Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin – which in retrospect turned out to be true.

Since Wednesday, Kadyrov has not been seen, nor has any news about his health been released. On Tuesday he is said to have last been online on his Telegram account, his Instagram account was deleted last week. His official site on the Russian online network Vkontakte continues to post updates, but no mention of his illness was made.

Two Chechen politicians tried to deny the rumors on Friday. The President of Parliament Magomed Daudov, who also heads the Republic’s Coronavirus task force, said on Instagram that Kadyrov is healthy and all rumours are a lie. Information Minister Dzhambulat Umarov posted a quote that is said to come from the Chechen head of state:

“They do not like it when I am silent. It is nothing personal. I only keep silent when I am THINKING”.

Kadyrov co-responsible for peace in Russia?

Kadyrov is regarded as irreplaceable for peace in the North Caucasus – a view he himself strongly encouraged after he was appointed by his close ally Vladimir Putin in 2007 to suppress a smouldering uprising in the region. While Kadyrov’s father was still fighting for the independence of the constituent republic in the first bloody Chechen war in the 1990s, he campaigned for a peaceful solution in the second war in the early 2000s. In 2004 he was killed by rebels.

Human rights specialist Ekaterina Sokiryanskaya described the deep bond between Putin and Ramzan Kadyrov as fundamental to Chechnya’s current relationship with Russia – it is a relationship that cannot simply be passed on to another leader, Sokiryanskaya told the New York Times.

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