“At the moment it is too early to make any predictions about his future health”, she wrote on her Instagram page August 29.
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The statement, widely reported by local and Russian media, did not offer any details about strongman Karimov’s condition.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said they have no new information regarding Karimov and that reports of his death remain unconfirmed, Sputnik news agency reported.
Uzbekistan will celebrate its 25th Independence Day anniversary on September 1.
The Uzbekistan presidency’s press service issued a statement Sunday on its website saying the 78-year-old “is now hospitalized”.
The Uzbek cabinet of ministers has said Karimov, 78, was taken to a medical facility in the country’s capital Tashkent for “necessary medical treatment”.
Karimov was raised in an orphanage in the ancient city of Samarkand, before studying mechanical engineering and economics and rising up Communist Party ranks to become head of Soviet Uzbekistan in 1989.
Since then, Karimov has brooked no dissent and removed all of his political opponents, many of whom were imprisoned, forced into exile or disappeared. The news has yet to be confirmed by the government, which insisted yesterday that the President was hospitalised but in a stable condition.
This was announced by Uzbekistan’s government in an unusual statement.
Rabbimov said Karimov over the years has permitted only “the weakest of the politicians” to lead the Senate to ensure that Karimov retained overall control.
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Uzbekistan – which borders each of the other Central Asian states, as well as Afghanistan – is the most populous country in Central Asia with some 30 million people.
