Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny, missing for more than two weeks, has resurfaced. Navalny's spokeswoman Kira Yarmysch said on Monday that he had been transferred to the IK-3 penal camp in Charp in northern Russia's Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. A lawyer saw him. “I’m fine,” Jarmysch explained. There was no trace of Navalny for 20 days. The US government said it was “deeply concerned” about Navalny’s prison conditions.
His team and lawyers launched a search operation. “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, more than 2,000 kilometers from Moscow. “The conditions there are brutal,” Zhdanov said. There are also permanent frosts there. It was very difficult to get there; Furthermore, no letters would be delivered to the camp. There is very little contact with the outside world.
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.
There was no further comment from the prison service or other Russian authorities on reports of the detainee's whereabouts. Navalny, who was sentenced to 19 years in prison for alleged extremism, among other things, has repeatedly filed lawsuits against the prison system for violating his rights. He takes advantage of court appearances to harshly criticize Putin's authoritarian system. More recently, Navalny was no longer involved in negotiations when the election campaign began.
The US has expressed concern about prison conditions. The US State Department announced on Monday that it welcomes information about Navalny's whereabouts after nearly three weeks of uncertainty. “However, we remain deeply concerned about Mr. Navalny’s well-being and the conditions of his unjustified detention.” The US government continues to demand their “immediate release”. “We have communicated to the Russian government that it is responsible for what happens to Mr. Navalny in its custody and that the international community is monitoring this closely,” the US State Department statement added.
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.
“Although today is also Christmas, the fact that we found Alexei on this day is not a Christmas miracle, but rather the enormous and meticulous work of the Anti-Corruption Fund lawyers,” said Yulia Navalnaya, wife of the opposition activist, on Instagram. with. She also posted an older selfie of her with her husband from happier days.
Just on Monday, Russia's highest court ruled that Navalny's whereabouts were unknown, said Zhdanov, who runs the anti-corruption fund in exile. There was a total blockage of information. Navalny's lawyers sent more than 600 requests and “searched” all pre-trial detention centers to find him. “The lawyer was with him today. He saw Alexei. But they didn't let the lawyer see him right away,” Zhdanov said. The head of the Russian penal system, Arkady Gostev, was there in April to prepare the ground for Navalny's arrival, he said.
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 participates in the vote for the fifth time; It is considered that his competitors 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. The US and EU have repeatedly expressed concern in recent weeks and called on the Russian leadership to provide information on Navalny's whereabouts. Russia rejected this as interference in its internal affairs. The Kremlin also said it could not worry about the fate of prisoners in Russia.