Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, whose whereabouts have not been known for more than two weeks, has been moved to a penal colony in the Arctic, allies said Monday.
The disappearance of Russia's most prominent opposition politician, who mobilized large protests before his imprisonment in 2021, had raised concerns among allies, human rights groups and Western governments.
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is seen on a screen via a video link from the IK-2 penal colony in Pokrov during a court hearing in Moscow on May 24, 2022. EVGENIA NOVOZHENINA / Portal
That suggested a likely prison transfer, which in Russia can take weeks as prisoners are slowly transported by rail between far-flung facilities.
“We found Alexei Navalny. He is now in IK-3 in the settlement of Charp in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug,” his spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said on social media.
“His lawyer visited him today. Alexey is fine,” Yarmysh added.
The Kharp district, home to about 5,000 people, lies above the Arctic Circle. It is “one of the northernmost and most remote colonies,” said Ivan Zhdanov, who heads Navalny’s anti-corruption foundation.
“The conditions there are harsh, with a special regime in the permafrost zone” and very little contact with the outside world, Zhdanov said.
Navalny was first jailed after surviving an assassination attempt by poisoning. A court extended his sentence to 19 years on extremism charges and ruled that he should be transferred to a safer, tougher prison.
“It was clear from the beginning that the authorities wanted to isolate Alexei, especially before the elections,” Zhdanov continued.
Russia is scheduled to hold a presidential election in March. President Vladimir Putin is expected to easily win a fifth term in office.
While Navalny's whereabouts were still unknown, Leonid Volkov, Navalny's chief of staff, said on social media: “The fact that this is happening right now (even though Navalny should have been moved to another colony two months ago) – now that 'elections.' ' were announced and Navalny's team launched the “Russia without Putin” campaign – is 0% random and 100% direct political manual control by the Kremlin.
“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. This means that everyone should become Navalny’s voice,” Volkov said.
A U.S. State Department spokesman welcomed the news that Navalny had been located, but said the U.S. remained “deeply concerned about Mr. Navalny's well-being and the conditions of his unjustified detention.”
“The United States strongly condemns Russia’s continued malicious attacks on Navalny and the more than 600 other political prisoners that Russia has detained,” the spokesman said. “We will continue to closely monitor their cases and work for the release of all those wrongly imprisoned.”
Moscow has barred opposition figures from elections and political life for years, a crackdown that intensified after the Kremlin ordered Russian troops into Ukraine in 2022.