Residents of Chechnya have expressed indifference to Adam Kadyrov's condition.

Power outages, low wages, and daily household problems worry residents of Chechnya interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot." Federal media outlets are showing interest in information about the accident involving Adam Kadyrov and his health, but ordinary residents of Chechnya are indifferent to these topics, they said.

00:00 30.01.2026

What is known about the classified incident involving Adam Kadyrov in Grozny

Reports of an accident involving Adam Kadyrov's motorcade on January 16, 2026, in Grozny were followed by a wave of conflicting reports. Sources claimed that Adam Kadyrov himself and his entourage were injured; official agencies did not confirm the incident, but Kadyrov Jr. stopped appearing in public.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot," on January 16, sources reported that the motorcade of Ramzan Kadyrov's third son was involved in an accident in Grozny, injuring Adam Kadyrov and his entourage. The following day, Ramzan Kadyrov published a report on a meeting chaired by 18-year-old Adam Kadyrov. The video was recorded a day before the alleged accident, journalists discovered. A week after the accident in Grozny was reported, Adam Kadyrov has yet to appear in any new videos, despite posting several times on his Instagram* account. Eleven days after the accident involving Adam Kadyrov in Grozny was reported, the third son of the Chechen leader maintains a relatively low social media profile, continues to threaten his enemies, but doesn't post any new images of himself.

Zalina is 50 years old and has worked her entire life as a kindergarten teacher in the town of Ivanovo, in the Starye Mysly district. "I thought I'd work at this kindergarten until retirement. The salaries weren't high, but the staff was great, and at the end of last year, they promised us a raise. But I had to resign because of a conflict with the director, who, as I understood it, deliberately provoked it. Proving my case was pointless. I heard from neighbors that there had been a car accident and that one of the victims was the son of the head of Chechnya. I wasn't particularly interested in what exactly happened, because after resigning, I needed to urgently find a job, and that's a huge problem now, in winter," Zalina told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

According to her, all her free time is spent searching for any kind of work. "I don't watch TV, I come home tired, I haven't been on social media in a long time. I have a ton of problems of my own, and frankly, I don't care about anyone except my family and friends," says Zalina.

She added that she's currently concerned about where to get the money to pay for electricity and gas. "I don't care about anything else," she said. She says she's resentful of being unemployed a month before her expected salary increase. "Although, I don't think teachers' and caregivers' salaries have increased significantly," Zalina doubts.

Khadizha is a 45-year-old dressmaker who learned tailoring from Khava, who was a fashion designer at the Grozny House of Services in the 1980s. "I was lucky to end up in this group as a girl, right after school. "But now I'm always busy, I have a lot of clients," the woman said.

When asked if she follows the news and what's happening in the republic, she asks, "Why do I need all this news? You won't hear anything good from this box. My clients bring me the news; they know everything: who got married, who got divorced, whose family had a baby, and who finally got a wealthy friend, which means we'll be sewing new outfits! That's the kind of city news that's the most truthful, by the way," she emphasizes.

Khadizha values ​​her time and her health. "Follow the news? Why?" she asks, genuinely surprised.

"Scroll through all sorts of websites, looking for information about someone, especially about the head of the village's son? I have clients, I need to work, especially since I love my job. At this stage, the news of the three-hour power outage in Grozny on January 30 was a hundred times more important to me than information about the health of the heir to the “Chechen throne.” "Thank God, the electricity was on, and I managed to fulfill the orders that day," she told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Ruslan is nearly 60 years old. After graduating from a pedagogical institute, he worked as a physical education teacher and led a Greco-Roman wrestling section. He left school last year, believing that even a salary increase would still leave Chechen public sector workers among the lowest paid in Russia. "How long can we tolerate such humiliating treatment of us, public sector workers? I have a Hyundai Solaris. I bought it with money sent to me by my older brother, who has been working as an oil worker in Norway for many years. I've been driving taxis for almost six months now, and the income I receive significantly exceeds a teacher's salary," Ruslan says.

Sources reported an improvement in Adam Kadyrov's condition

But there is another reason he left school. “It was difficult for me to answer children’s questions, especially high school students’, about the life and especially the behavior of the Chechen leader’s offspring. Commenting on everything we see on television, evaluating their actions—it was impossible for me, a teacher. But now it’s as if a sack of stones has been lifted from my shoulders: I don’t have time to watch the news on TV due to my workload or search the internet for information about the health of Kadyrov’s offspring. I don’t care at all about his current health. I have neither the time nor the desire to burden my head with this information. He’s not the kind of person worth having any conversations about,” Ruslan said.

28-year-old businesswoman Madina said she is not interested in news about Adam Kadyrov.

"I don't follow Adam Kadyrov's health, and I don't follow my own health either. News about the power outages [worries me more], of course. No one cares about Adam Kadyrov, as long as he's alive," Madina told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Few people in the republic care about what's happening to this family.

Other "Caucasian Knot" interlocutors also expressed indifference to the story itself, noting a number of contradictory reports. The tone and emphasis of the assessments varied: some spoke of a distrust of the information itself and its significance, while others spoke of the media's morbid interest and the moral dimension of the events.

"I don't follow Adam Kadyrov; I'm not interested in anything about him beyond the general media buzz about the accident. I found the information a bit far-fetched; I didn't see any huge traffic jams that day. And overall, I can say that few people in the republic care about what's happening to this family." "I wouldn't compare any mundane things to this news at all. I don't think it even deserves comparison with power outages," a 33-year-old Grozny resident and businessman named Islam told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

A Chechen State University professor named Tamerlan called the federal media's interest in Adam Kadyrov's accident "excessive and unhealthy."

"From the very first minutes, there was a lot of gossip about the death of Adam himself or Khamzat Chimaev. For some reason, the media wasn't interested in the fate of the man Kadyrov's motorcade collided with. Just like accidents involving security guards, escorts of the Kadyrovs and other high-ranking officials, which claim the lives of ordinary Chechens – no one cares. I can't say many would be happy about the death of Kadyrov's son. "We are, after all, practicing Muslims, and wishing someone's death is a sin," he said.

Tamerlan noted that he had been interested in the matter since the first reports of the accident involving Adam Kadyrov. However, he is concerned with pressing issues, particularly teachers' salaries. "For me, as a teacher, this is a daily problem. When you have a family and children, and prices rise daily, of course I'll think more about how to feed them than about accidents, even involving the Kadyrovs," Tamerlan told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Chechnya residents are only willing to discuss most topics "in a small circle"

45-year-old lawyer Movsar said that he and others do not like to be frank when discussing any news.

"Most people didn't even know about Adam's accident. Most are busy earning their daily bread and don't follow the news," he believes.

People prefer not to talk publicly about the news, confirmed 60-year-old Yunus, who is in the tourism business.

"I know from the inside, but you need to know the specifics of today's Chechen society. Adam, the accident - people understand everything perfectly well, they all see it perfectly well, but no one talks about these topics. In "People discuss things in a small circle," he said.

According to Yunus, any topic is discussed only in confidential conversations.

"Even about power outages, no one can speak out loud about any issue because it could concern a specific official, and no one knows what that official is allowed to do. But if someone is given the order to 'sink' an official, then people are allowed to express their opinion. People have accepted all the rules of the game perfectly well, and people only talk about what is acceptable to talk about. So if a topic is politicized, then in public we can simply exchange glances to understand each other," he explained.

Another Chechen resident, 67-year-old pensioner Shamil, said that his interest in republican news is not systemic, but rather momentary.

Health has become the main topic of Kadyrov's statements

"The event happened – interest lasts for a couple of days. But rumors about the health of the head of the republic are more "long-lasting" due to the dependence of many aspects of ordinary people's lives on the personality of the leader. This situation is evident not only in our country, but in all countries whose governance system is based on one-man rule," he noted.