Navalny’s staff says he has vanished in Russia’s jail system

LONDON, Dec 11 (Reuters) – Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny has been faraway from the penal colony the place he had been imprisoned because the center of final yr and his present whereabouts are unknown, his allies mentioned on Monday.

Navalny aides have been getting ready for his anticipated switch to a “particular regime” colony, the harshest grade in Russia’s jail system, after he was sentenced in August to an extra 19 years in jail on prime of 11-1/2 years he was already serving.

The method of shifting prisoners by rail throughout Russia’s huge territory can take weeks, with legal professionals and household unable to acquire details about their location and well-being till they attain their vacation spot. It was unclear if Navalny was already in transit to a brand new jail.

Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh mentioned employees on the IK-6 facility in Melekhovo, 235 km (145 miles) east of Moscow, had advised his lawyer ready exterior that the opposition chief was now not amongst its inmates.

“We do not know the place he’s proper now. He will be in any colony of particular regime and there are about round 30 of them in Russia, throughout Russia,” she advised Reuters. “We’ll attempt to go to each colony there’s and search for him”.

America mentioned it was deeply involved.

“He ought to be launched instantly. He ought to by no means have been jailed within the first place,” White Home nationwide safety spokesman John Kirby mentioned.

Navalny’s disappearance comes at the beginning of the marketing campaign interval for a presidential election during which Vladimir Putin confirmed on Friday that he would stand for one more six-year time period.

Navalny’s staff is gearing as much as begin an “anti-Putin” marketing campaign, and Navalny’s disappearance is not going to cease the trouble, Yarmysh mentioned.

“Proper now he’s utterly alone and he’s actually within the fingers of people that as soon as tried to kill him. We do not know what they’ll do. That is why it’s so necessary to speak about him and to attempt to discover him as quickly as potential,” she mentioned.

“It’s about his life, and his well being, and about his safety”.

Navalny aide Leonid Volkov posted on X that the timing was “0% coincidence and 100% direct guide political management from the Kremlin.”

He added: “It’s no secret to Putin who his predominant opponent is in these ‘elections’. And he desires to be sure that Navalny’s voice just isn’t heard.”

The Kremlin and the Russian jail service didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark. Putin and his spokesman make some extent of by no means referring to Navalny by title in an try and painting him as politically irrelevant. They are saying he’s handled like another prisoner.

Navalny aide Lyubov Sobol advised Reuters: “We’re fearful concerning the state of his well being and we’re looking for out precisely the place he’s now, however that’s exhausting to do.”

DEEPENING ISOLATION

Regardless of his incarceration, Navalny has typically been ready via his legal professionals to put up trenchant assaults on the Kremlin through social media, describing his ordeal behind bars and condemning Putin over the battle in Ukraine. However his isolation deepened when three of his legal professionals have been arrested in October on suspicion of “extremist” exercise.

The 47-year-old is by far the perfect identified determine in Russia’s opposition. For years, he has branded Putin and the ruling elite a gang of “crooks and thieves”, lampooning them in slick movies watched tens of millions of instances on YouTube.

He earned admiration world wide for voluntarily returning to Russia in 2021 from Germany, the place he underwent remedy for what Western laboratory exams confirmed was an try and poison him with a nerve agent in Siberia. He was instantly arrested on arrival.

Navalny says the various costs in opposition to him – from fraud and contempt of courtroom to a spread of “extremist” actions – have been all trumped as much as silence his assaults on Putin.

Russian authorities view Navalny and his supporters as extremists with hyperlinks to Western intelligence companies intent on making an attempt to destabilise Russia. Putin has warned the West that any meddling inside Russia might be thought of an act of aggression.

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Chief author on Russia and CIS. Labored as a journalist on 7 continents and reported from 40+ nations, with postings in London, Wellington, Brussels, Warsaw, Moscow and Berlin. Lined the break-up of the Soviet Union within the Nineties. Safety correspondent from 2003 to 2008. Speaks French, Russian and (rusty) German and Polish.