Award-winning writer Dmitry Bykov hospitalized in critical condition

The award-winning writer and journalist Dmitry Bykov has been hospitalized in the Russian city of Ufa. Igor Molchanov, the lead anesthesiologist and emergency care physician for Russia’s Health Ministry, told the Moscow news agency that Bykov is in a medically induced coma.

“We will not be transporting Dmitry Bykov to Mosocw. He currently requires assisted respiration and is in a medically induced coma. His condition appears to be critical,” Molchanov said. He added that Bykov’s treatment is being overseen by a group of doctors but did not provide a diagnosis.

Bykov, 51, flew to Ufa on April 16 to give a lecture but was hospitalized upon arrival. Reports that he suffered a stroke were never confirmed, and Bykov’s friend and Ekho Moskvy editor-in-chief Alexey Venediktov denied them. Ekho Moskvy reported that a chronic illness was responsible for Bykov’s condition. According to Otkrytye Media, that illness is diabetes, and Bykov is suffering from a hyperglycemic crisis. However, a source told RIA Novostithat Bykov has experienced severe circulatory failures in his brain.

Bykov is a three-time winner of the Bolshaya Kniga award, one of Russia’s most prestigious literary prizes. He is known as a prolific fiction writer, essayist, and poet.