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The Uzbek President Islam Karimov, aged 78 years, died, Reuters said, quoting three diplomatic sources.

This morning, the government of the former Soviet republic in Central Asia announced that Islam Karimov is in a ‘critical condition’ after the degradation of his health following a brain hemorrhage.

‘Dear compatriots, with a heavy heart I inform you that the health of our president was degraded and clearly that, according to doctors, he is in a critical condition,’ authorities explained in a statement published on an official website.

The communiqué confirms that President Karimov was hospitalized Saturday after a brain hemorrhage.

Authorities in this former Soviet republic in Central Asia served little information on the state of health of the President announcing his hospitalization on Sunday what caused intense speculation and questions of a possible death that could be kept secret.

Two days ago, Lola Karimova-Tilliaieva, the youngest daughter of the president of Uzbekistan, thanked those who had wished for her father’s recovery, in the context of the media’s speculation that Islam Karimov died of a cerebral hemorrhage.

Islam Karimov was hospitalized and was in intensive care due to a brain hemorrhage suffered on Saturday morning. His health was considered stable wrote his daughter on Monday on Instagram.

‘For the moment it is too early to make guesses on the progress of his health,’ she stated

According to a comment by AFP, Uzbekistan is preparing for a long period of uncertainty, unprecedented in the history of this post-Soviet Central Asian country.

“Karimov has embodied, for over a quarter of a century, the state, leading the country with an iron hand,” emphasizes Steve Swerdlow, an analyst at the Human Rights Watch.