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MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian opposition figure Alexeï Navalny has been transferred to a penal colony in the Arctic, in northern Russia, his spokesperson announced on Monday, after his supporters had lost all contact with him for more than two weeks.
Alexei Navalny was located in the IK-3 penal colony in Kharp, in the Yamal-Nenets region, about 1,900 km northeast of Moscow, Kira Iarmysh said.
The opponent’s lawyer managed to see him on Monday, she added.
“This prison will be much worse than the one he was in before,” Kira Iarmych told Reuters TV. “They are trying to make his life as unbearable as possible.”
Alexeï Navalny, whose transfer to a “special regime” colony – the most severe category of the Russian prison system – was expected, had not had contact with his lawyers since December 6.
The penal colony to which Alexei Navalny was transferred is considered one of the harshest prisons in Russia. Most of the inmates incarcerated there have been convicted of serious crimes.
This penal colony, which is about 60 kilometers from the Arctic Circle, was established in the 1960s as part of the Gulag administration, according to the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper.
“The conditions there are difficult, with a special regime in the permafrost,” explained Leonid Volkov, an advisor to Alexei Navalny.
He added that it was difficult to contact prisoners held in the remote penal colony.
Ivan Zhdanov, one of Alexei Navalny’s lawyers, indicated that the opponent’s supporters had sent 618 requests for information on the location of the opponent, who was previously detained in a penal colony 235 km away. is from Moscow.
Alexeï Navalny, a former lawyer who made himself known as a slayer of corruption at the highest level of the Russian state and a fierce opponent of President Vladimir Putin, was sentenced in August to 19 years in prison in addition to 11 years and half that he was already serving.
He survived a poisoning attempt in 2020. He accused the Russian state of having sought to eliminate him, which the Kremlin denies.
(Reporting Guy Faulconbridge in Moscow and Andrius Sytas in Vilnius, with contribution from Kanishka Singh in Washington; French version Kate Entringer and Camille Raynaud)
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