Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has reportedly begun frantic efforts to locate his cousin and close ally Adam Delimkhanov after reports on Wednesday said the Chechen lawmaker had been wounded or possibly killed on the battlefield in Ukraine.
Russian state-controlled media initially reported that Delimkhanov, a State Duma deputy who was awarded the title of Hero of Russia by President Vladimir Putin, was wounded but still alive, citing the State Duma’s press service. But after a short time, the State Duma’s press service denied that it had ever made the comment, and one by one, lawmakers lined up to confirm that Delimkhanov was completely fine and had not even been injured.
But Kadyrov took to Telegram to sound the alarm about what he described as Delimkhanov’s disappearance. Kadyrov said he could not catch Delimkhanov and had no idea where he was. And in a wild plot twist, the Chechen leader who for months encouraged the killing of Ukrainians is now appealing to the Ukrainian authorities for help.
“I ask the Ukrainian secret service to provide information about exactly where and which sites were bombed, so that I can find my dear brother,” Kadyrov wrote on Wednesday.
“I promise a generous reward and ask you to help.”
The Kremlin also acknowledged that Delimkhanov’s whereabouts and condition are unknown. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: “We received this information with great concern, we are worried like everyone else for the champion of Russia. We hope that in the near future there will be some updated information about what happened.
It is strange that the Chechen commander was quoted by Russian state media he said Delimkhanov was “more than all the living” and in Chechnya he later wrote on Telegram that he had been ordered by Kadyrov to “fly to the scene” and “find [Delimkhanov] by any means necessary.”
Russia RIA Novosti He then reported that Chechen fighters had been withdrawn from their front-line positions to assist in the search for Delimkhanov.
Unconfirmed reports had spread earlier in Ukrainian media claiming that the Chechen deputy was killed by Ukraine during a raid in the Zaporizhia region. Just a day earlier, Delimkhanov had been seen in a video announcing that Chechen fighters sent to the border with Ukraine would cross over and “liberate Ukrainians from the LGBTQ, Satanist, fascist regime”.
Vyacheslav Volodin, the State Duma speaker, claimed he “just talked” to Delimkhanov, according to fellow MP Dmitry Kuznetsov. Kuznetsov told state-controlled media that Delimkhanov was “alive and well” and “wishes us well”.
Conflicting accounts have raised questions about Delimkhanov’s condition, with many wondering why Kadyrov could not contact his cousin while other lawmakers claim they had access to him.
