According to coworkers, a senior Chechen commander who is also a member of the Russian parliament has been wounded in Ukraine, despite reports to the contrary.
Ramzan Kadyrov, the infamous leader of Chechnya, has called Adam Delimkhanov an "incommunicado" ally.
To "find my dear brother," he pleaded with Ukrainian intelligence.
Russian forces in the conflict in Ukraine now include Chechen paramilitaries.
When Russia fought for months to annex the Ukrainian port of Mariupol in 2022, the missing MP was in charge of the Chechen forces.
The missing MP claimed earlier this week that he had met with the governor of Russia's border region of Belgorod and made a commitment to assist in defending the region against attack. A number of cross-border raids from Ukraine have recently targeted Belgorod.
However, it was unclear where he had been on Wednesday.
According to the lower house of the Russian parliament and the country's official military TV station Zvezda, he was "alive but wounded.".
The report, according to Zvezda, refuted some social media rumors that he had been killed. Unconfirmed reports from Ukrainian sources suggest that the Chechen Akmat paramilitary was attacked in the coastal city of Prymorsk, which is far from the front lines in the southern Zaporizhzhia region.
Ramzan Kadyrov then made a generous reward offer in exchange for information leading to the discovery of his "dear brother," even going so far as to request Ukrainian intelligence's assistance.
The reports of such a senior commander being hurt, though, have since been denied by Russian officials.
Adam Delimkhanov was "alive and well," according to speaker of the Duma Vyacheslav Volodin, who was quoted by fellow MP Dmitry Kuznetsov.
According to spokesman Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin was monitoring the situation with great concern and was looking forward to explanations of what had occurred.
Maj Gen Sergei Goryachev, another prominent military leader, was reportedly killed on Monday by a missile strike, but the Kremlin has not yet commented on his whereabouts.
Although there was no official confirmation, the incident was widely reported in Russian media, citing well-known military blogger Yuri Kotenok.
By expressing his condolences to the general's family and friends, Russian-installed official Vladimir Rogov seemed to confirm the information in the report.
Several Russian generals have perished since the invasion's start, but if confirmed, Goryachev would be the country's first fatality in a year.
