A man claimed by Russia to be the oldest in the world has died at the age of 122, said regional officials.
Magomed Labazanov was born in 1890, before last tsar Nicholas the Second took the throne, and he was 27 when Lenin seized power in the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, it is claimed.
His recipe for long life – which he outlined four years ago – was ‘abstaining from alcohol, tobacco – and women.’
Despite this he was twice married, divorcing his first wife because she failed to produce any children.
He celebrated his 118th birthday by dancing the Lezginka, a popular Caucasus folk dance.
Relatives failed in their mission to enter him in the Guinness Book of World Records because he had no birth certificate or other papers to prove his age.
Friends said this was due to the chaos in Soviet times when old church and mosque records were destroyed.
Recipe for long life: He outlined it four years ago and said it was ‘abstaining from alcohol, tobacco – and women’
A Muslim, he lived in a village in Dagestan in the Caucasus region of southern Russia, an area famed for people surviving to great ages.
Aged over 50 when the Second World War began in the USSR, he was uprooted by Stalin and deported to Central Asia, returning in the 1950s.
He boasted 18 grandchildren and more than 20 great great grandsons.
He outlived three of his four sons.
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