Navalny, who has been missing since the beginning of December, is now being held in the IK-3 penal colony in the village of Harpi in northwestern Siberia.
Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny has been found, says Navalny’s spokesman Kira Jarmyš messaging service in X.
According to Jarmyš, Navalnyi is currently in the village of Harpi in northwestern Siberia, where he is being held in the IK-3 penal colony. The village is located in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District in the northern part of Russia.
Navalny’s lawyer met him in the penal colony on Monday, Jarmyš writes in X. Jarmyš says in his message that Navalnyi is doing well.
Head of Navalny’s anti-corruption organization Ivan Ždanov by IK-3 is “one of the northernmost and remotest penal institutions” in Russia. IK-3 is located approximately 1,900 kilometers northeast of Moscow.
– The conditions are harsh there. It is very difficult to get there, and there is no functioning postal service, Ždanov writes in the message service X.
Navalny’s close aide Leonid Volkov according to the penal colony is practically completely isolated from the outside world.
– It is almost impossible to get to the penal colony, it is even almost impossible to send letters there. There is the highest possible level of isolation from the outside world, Volkov writes in the message service in X.
Contact ended at the beginning of December
Navalny was missing for almost three weeks. The contact ended unexpectedly on December 6, when lawyers were prevented from visiting the opposition politician at the IK-6 penal colony, where he had been imprisoned since June last year. IK-6 is located in the Vladimir region in the village of Melohovo, about 230 kilometers east of Moscow.
On December 11, a Russian court announced, that Navalnyi “has left the Vladimir region”. At the time, the court did not say where Navalnyi was transferred.
Navalny’s allies have said that the disappearance and transfer to harsher conditions are linked to the Russian president Vladimir Putin to the announcement to run for next year’s so-called presidential elections.
Navalnyi received a prison sentence on charges of extremism. The judgments of the opposition figure are widely considered political. Navalny’s sentence was extended to 19 years in the summer and the court ordered the man to be transferred to a “special arrangements” prison.
Sources: AP, Reuters