Kremlin opponent wanted for more than two weeks Alexey Navalny resurfaced. He was transferred to the IK-3 penal camp in Charp in northern Russia in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Navalny's spokeswoman Kira Yarmysch said Monday on the X (formerly Twitter) news service. “He’s fine,” Jarmysch said. There was no trace of Navalny for 20 days. His team and lawyers launched a search operation. The new prison camp is more than 2,000 kilometers from Moscow.
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“We found Alexei!” said his colleague Ivan Zhdanov. He is in the “Polar Wolf” penal camp, in one of the northernmost and most remote colonies of all. “The conditions there are brutal,” Zhdanov said. There are also permanent frosts there. It was very difficult to get there; no letters would be delivered to the camp. It was clear from the beginning that Moscow's power apparatus wanted to isolate the Kremlin leader's opponent, Vladimir Putin, before the presidential elections on March 17. “His whereabouts were kept secret,” criticized Zhdanov.
Sentenced to 19 years in prison
Navalny, who was sentenced to 19 years in prison for alleged extremism, among other things, repeatedly files lawsuits against the prison system for violating his rights. He takes advantage of court appearances to criticize Putin's authoritarian system. He was recently no longer involved in the negotiations.
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The whereabouts of the Russian president's fiercest adversary had been unknown since early December. There was also great concern for the 47-year-old because he is in poor health. During the court proceedings, prison officials only stated that Navalny was no longer in the IK-6 penal camp, about 260 kilometers east of Moscow, in the Vladimir region.
Kremlin opponents around Navalny also started the “Russia without Putin” campaign at the beginning of December, with which they appealed to voters before the presidential elections to express their protest by voting for other candidates. Putin is participating in the vote for the fifth time and potential competitors are considered to have no chance.
Navalny, who also survived an assassination attempt with the Novichok nerve agent in 2020, has been imprisoned for almost three years. He was internationally recognized as a political prisoner.