Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov says one of his senior military commanders is alive and well, contradicting reports that he had been wounded or killed in Ukraine.
Kadyrov said the commander, Adam Delimkhanov, is "alive and well and not even wounded" in a post on Telegram on June 14 that came after he said he had been unable to contact him.
Delimkhanov is a relative of Kadyrov and a close associate of the Kremlin-backed authoritarian ruler of the North Caucasus region of Chechnya. He is also a member of the Russian State Duma, which reported earlier that he had been wounded.
Kadyrov initially wrote on Telegram that he had been unable to contact Delimkhanov following a report from political observer Kyrylo Sazonov, who said he had been killed by Ukraine's Banderlohy special unit in the city of Prymorsk in the Zaporizhzhya region. Sazonov joined the Ukrainian armed forces and is fighting against occupying Russian troops.
But hours later, Kadyrov issued the post that said Delimkhanov was alive and uninjured.
Kadyrov's post included a photo of Kadyrov, a person who appeared to be Delimkhanov, and two other top Chechen officials sitting in front of a large map. It is not clear when and where the photo was taken.
Despite the Russian parliament's reports that Delimkhanov was wounded, State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin said earlier that he talked with Delimkhanov, who "is alive and well."
The commander of Chechnya's Akhmat special task military unit, Apti Alaudinov, stated that Delimkhanov is "more alive than all of those alive, and is currently in Chechnya."
A day earlier, reports said that Delimkhanov held talks with the governor of the Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, and representatives of the Defense Ministry and National Guard and agreed to send the West-Akhmat military unit of Chechnya to the region to fight against the activities of Ukrainian saboteur groups.
Ukrainian authorities have launched a probe against Delimkhanov, accusing him of taking part in Russian efforts to change Ukraine's state borders and for justifying Russia's full-scale aggression against Ukraine.
Delimkhanov is also among Russian officials under Ukrainian sanctions imposed for their roles in Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, launched in February 2022.
Delimkhanov has been mentioned by investigators in Russia as a possible person behind the assassination of outspoken Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov, who was gunned down in Moscow in 2015.
Many in Russia believe that Delimkhanov was also responsible for the killing of Chechen warlord and former Federal Security Service special-task unit commander Movladi Baisarov, who was shot dead in Moscow in 2006, as well as the killings of brothers Sulim, Dzhabrail, and Ruslan Yamadayev, who were critics of Kadyrov. They were assassinated in the early 2000s.
Last year, Delimkhanov made headlines following a public outcry after he openly threatened to "cut off the heads" of brothers Abubakar and Ibragim Yangulbayev and members of their family. The brothers are prominent Chechen opposition activists and bloggers.
Delimkhanov, a former Chechen separatist who switched sides to Moscow along with Kadyrov and much of Chechnya's present leadership, has taken a prominent role in Russia's military campaign in Ukraine, commanding Chechen forces in Mariupol in the conflict's early days last year.