Two hours ago, Russian news outlets began publishing news that "some media reported that President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov is in a coma, and the embassy of this country in Russia denies this."

The first news was released by RIA Novosti, whose editor contacted the Turkmen embassy in Moscow. The diplomatic service denied the information.

"The information of a number of media outlets about the alleged deterioration of the health of Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov is absolutely unreliable and does not correspond to reality," the Turkmen embassy in Moscow said.

RIA notes that "earlier some media reported that the President of Turkmenistan Berdymukhamedov is in a coma", but does not give links or their names.

The diplomatic mission recalled that "Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov yesterday held an expanded meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers on the digital system, at which topical issues of state life were discussed and drafts of a number of documents were considered" and advised to look for information on recent events on the website turkmenistan.gov.tm ( website of the state information agency "Turkmenistan: The Golden Age", ed. ).

From RIA, this news spread to all other major Russian media outlets. It was given to Vesti.ru, Gazeta.ru, Life, Komsomolskaya Pravda, followed by the Kazakh media, in particular, Tengrinews. None of them indicated the source of the rumors about the coma of the President of Turkmenistan.

Note that for the first time, a rumor about Berdymukhamedov's coma appeared on the YouTube channel of one of the Turkmen opposition bloggers, Mukhammet Dueji . The corresponding video was published 13 hours ago, at about 6 am Ashgabat time.

The last time the head of Turkmenistan appeared in front of television cameras was the day before, when he held an expanded meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers dedicated to preparations for the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the country's independence.

Source: Chronicles of Turkmenistan