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Kremlin denies reports Uzbek leader flown to Moscow for medical treatment

Uzbek President Islam Karimov Mikhail Metzel/TASS
Uzbek President Islam Karimov
© Mikhail Metzel/TASS

VLADIVOSTOK, September 1./TASS/. Uzbek President Islam Karimov, who is undergoing medical treatment, did not come to Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"I can confirm that Islam Karimov was not flown to Moscow," he said.

He declined, however, to answer the question about the arrival of Russian medics in Uzbekistan. "As for medics, I simply have no information," he explained.

The Uzbek government on August 28 said President Islam Karimov, 78, was taken to hospital. The day before his daughter, Lola Karimova-Tillyayeva, said on her Instagram page that her father had suffered brain hemorrhage and placed in intensive care. His condition was described as stable. Later, some mass media said Karimov had died, but no official confirmation followed.

Karimov has led Uzbekistan since 1991, when it became an independent country. Some media reports have said medics from Moscow’s Burdenko Neurosurgery Institute headed to Uzbekistan to treat the ailing president.