Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has reportedly launched frantic efforts to locate his cousin and close ally Adam Delimkhanov after reports Wednesday said the Chechen lawmaker was wounded or possibly killed on the battlefield in Ukraine.
Russian state-controlled media initially reported that Delimkhanov, a deputy of the State Duma who was awarded the title of Hero of Russia by President Vladimir Putin, had been wounded but was still alive, citing the press service of the State Duma. But a short time later, the State Duma’s press service denied having ever given that comment, and one after another, lawmakers got in line to assure that Delimkhanov was perfectly fine and not even wounded.
But Kadyrov took to Telegram to sound the alarm over what he described as Delimkhanov’s disappearance. Kadyrov said he can’t get hold of Delimkhanov and has no idea where he is. And in a wild plot twist, the Chechen leader who for months has cheered on the killing of Ukrainians is now appealing to Ukrainian authorities for help.
“I am asking Ukrainian intelligence to provide information on exactly what place and what positions were hit, so that I can still find my dear BROTHER,” Kadyrov wrote Wednesday.
“I promise a generous reward and I ask you to help.”
Bizarrely, a Chechen commander who was quoted by Russian state media as saying Delimkhanov was “more alive than all the living” and back home in Chechnya later wrote on Telegram that he had been ordered by Kadyrov to “travel to the scene of the incident” and “find [Delimkhanov] by any means necessary.”
Russia’s RIA Novosti then reported that Chechen fighters had been pulled from their positions on the frontline to aid in the search for Delimkhanov.
Unconfirmed reports had circulated earlier in Ukrainian media claiming that the Chechen lawmaker had been killed by Ukraine during a strike in the Zaporizhzhia region. Just a day earlier, Delimkhanov had been seen in a video declaring that Chechen fighters sent to the border with Ukraine would cross over and “liberate the Ukrainians from the LGBT, satanist, and fascist regime.”
Vyacheslav Volodin, the chairman of the State Duma, claimed to have “just spoken” with Delimkhanov, according to fellow lawmaker Dmitry Kuznetsov. Kuznetsov told state-controlled media that Delimkhanov was “alive and healthy” and “wishing us well.”
The conflicting accounts have raised questions about Delimkhanov’s condition, with many wondering why Kadyrov would be unable to get in touch with his own cousin while other lawmakers claim they have been able to reach him.
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