- Supporters say he has left the penal colony and his whereabouts are unknown
- Transfers between prisons in Russia can take weeks
- Aides links the timing to the start of Putin's re-election campaign
LONDON, Dec 11 (Portal) – Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny has been removed from the penal colony where he has been held since the middle of last year and his current whereabouts are unknown, his allies said on Monday.
Navalny's aides are preparing for his expected transfer to a “special regime” colony, the toughest level in the Russian prison system, after he was sentenced in August to an additional 19 years in prison, on top of the 11 and a half years he had already served .
Transporting prisoners by rail across Russia's vast territory can take weeks, as lawyers and family members cannot obtain information about their whereabouts and welfare until they reach their destination. It was unclear whether Navalny was already on his way to a new prison.
Navalny's spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said staff at the IK-6 facility in Melekhovo, 235 km (145 miles) east of Moscow, told his lawyer waiting outside that the opposition leader was no longer among the inmates.
“We don’t know where he is right now. It can be in any special regime colony, and there are about 30 of them across Russia,” she told Portal. “We'll try to go to every colony and look for him.”
The United States was deeply concerned.
“He should be released immediately. He should not have been detained in the first place,” said White House national security spokesman John Kirby.
Navalny's disappearance comes as the campaign for a presidential election begins, with Vladimir Putin confirming on Friday that he would run for another six-year term.
Navalny's team is preparing to launch an “anti-Putin” campaign and Navalny's disappearance will not stop the effort, Yarmysh said.
“Right now he is completely alone and is literally in the hands of people who once tried to kill him. We don't know what they'll do. That's why it's so important to talk about him and try to find him as quickly as possible,” she said.
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is seen on a screen via video link from the IK-2 penal colony in Pokrov before a court hearing to consider an appeal against his prison sentence in Moscow, Russia, May 17, 2022. Portal/Evgenia Novozhenina/ File Photo Acquire license rights
“It’s about his life, his health and his safety.”
Navalny's adviser Leonid Volkov posted on X that the timing was “0% coincidence and 100% direct manual political control by the Kremlin.”
He added: “It is no secret for Putin who his main opponent is in these 'elections'. And he wants to make sure that Navalny’s voice is not heard.”
The Kremlin and Russia's prison service did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Putin and his spokesman make a point of never mentioning Navalny by name in order to portray him as politically irrelevant. They say he will be treated like any other prisoner.
Navalny's adviser Lyubov Sobol told Portal: “We are worried about his health and are trying to find out where exactly he is now, but it is difficult.”
REINFORCING INSULATION
Despite his imprisonment, Navalny, with the help of his lawyers, often managed to post sharp attacks on the Kremlin on social media, describing his ordeal behind bars and condemning Putin over the war in Ukraine. But his isolation deepened when three of his lawyers were arrested in October on suspicion of “extremist” activities.
The 47-year-old is by far the best-known figure in the Russian opposition. For years he has branded Putin and the ruling elite a gang of “crooks and thieves,” mocking them in sophisticated videos that have been viewed millions of times on YouTube.
He won admiration around the world for voluntarily returning to Russia from Germany in 2021, where he underwent treatment because Western laboratory tests revealed it was an attempt to poison him with a nerve agent in Siberia. He was immediately arrested upon his arrival.
Navalny says the many allegations against him – from fraud and contempt of court to a range of “extremist” activities – were all fabricated to silence his attacks on Putin.
Russian authorities view Navalny and his followers as extremists with ties to Western intelligence services who are trying to destabilize Russia. Putin has warned the West that any interference in Russia will be viewed as an act of aggression.
Reporting by Mark Trevelyan in London and Andrius Sytas in Vilnius. Editing by Gareth Jones and Angus MacSwan
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