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Kremlin says overnight reports on Uzbek leader's death were not confirmed

The Kremlin knows only that the Uzbek leader is ill

Uzbekistan’s President Islam Karimov Brendan Smialowski/Pool Photo via AP

Uzbekistan’s President Islam Karimov

© Brendan Smialowski/Pool Photo via AP

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Kremlin can't confirm reports on alleged death of Uzbekistan's president

MOSCOW, August 30. /TASS/. The mass media reports this night on the alleged death of Uzbekistan’s President Islam Karimov have not been confirmed and the Kremlin knows only that the Uzbek leader is ill, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday.

"We know that there were different reports that have not been confirmed. That’s why we don’t have any new information now. We can only say at the moment that those overnight reports (on Karimov’s death) have not been confirmed, we proceed from this," Peskov said.

Peskov added that "it would be wrong for the Kremlin to give any details on the health condition of Uzbekistan’s head of state."

He stressed that Russia’s contacts with Uzbekistan are constantly held via diplomatic and other channels. "We have very substantive bilateral relations," Peskov said.

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Uzbekistan’s president suffered brain hemorrhage

Uzbekistan gives no information to CIS Executive Committee

Uzbekistan's authorities are not informing the Executive Committee of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) about the health condition of Islam Karimov.

"We get the same information as everyone else. The information is rather contradictory. Except for the fact that his (Karimov’s) health condition is stable, he is being treated, we don’t have any other official information," CIS Executive Secretary Sergei Lebedev said on Tuesday.

"We sincerely wish recovery to the president of Uzbekistan", the CIS Executive Secretary said.

Brain hemorrhage

On August 28, the Cabinet of Ministers of Uzbekistan said that the head of state Islam Karimov was placed on inpatient care to undergo full medical examination. On Monday, the Uzbekistani president’s youngest daughter, Lola Karimova-Tillyayeva wrote on her Instagram page that her father suffered a brain hemorrhage, he was placed in an intensive care unit, and his condition is stable: "In order to avoid misunderstandings, I want to tell you about the sad events that took place in our family with my father over the weekend. Due to cerebral hemorrhage, which happened on Saturday morning, he was taken to hospital and is in an intensive care unit. His condition is stable."

Islam Karimov

Islam Karimov, 78, was born in Samarkand on January 30, 1938. He has been factually heading Uzbekistan since 1989, when he took the post of the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic. In March 1990, he was elected the first President of the Republic. In 1991, he won the first nationwide presidential election, becoming the head of state for a five-year term. He retained his post after the national referendums in 1995 and 2002, as well as in the direct elections in 2000, 2007 and 2015.

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