Prominent Radio Liberty journalist Andrei Babitsky reported in November 2007 that Umarov had again travelled to Kabardino-Balkaria to rest and recuperate for the winter months. Babitsky said that Umarov was in a poor state of health after taking a fragmentation wound to his mandible (it is possible Umarov received the wound in 2006 when he broke out of a Russian encirclement on the Chechen/Ingush border) and after his leg was injured in a mine explosion. Pro-Moscow Chechen president Ramzan Kadyrov offered him medical care if Umarov were to "beg for forgiveness".