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Allies of Alexei Navalny say the imprisoned Russian opposition leader has been missing for days. The disappearance of one of Vladimir Putin’s staunchest critics follows the Russian president’s announcement on Friday that he would once again seek re-election.
On Monday, Navalny’s spokesperson Kira Yarmysh wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that “the lawyers tried to get to IK-6 and IK-7 — two [prison] colonies in the Vladimir region where Alexey [Navalny] might be. They have just been informed simultaneously in both colonies that he is not there. We still don’t know where Alexey is.”
Yarmysh added in a separate post that Russian authorities had refused to disclose where Navalny had been transferred, and told The Guardian that “today is the sixth day that the lawyers have not seen Alexey.”
“We assume that he could have been transferred, and that’s why other lawyers are trying to get in another colony in the Vladimir region – this is IK-7, a colony of special regime,” she told The Guardian.
“Special regime” penal colonies are considered to be the most brutal installations within Russia’s draconian prison system. Last year, Navalny was sentenced to nine years in prison on what are widely regarded as fabricated charges of corruption intended to silence his criticism of Putin. In August, an additional 19 years were added to his sentence. In recent years, the mysterious, untimely disappearances and deaths of Putin’s critics have been a mainstay in Russian politics. Navalny survived at least two documented assassination attempts, once in 2017, and again in 2020.
Navalny Chief of Staff Leonid Volkov wrote on X: “Apparently, Alexei Navalny is not in the Vladimir region (adjusted for the fact that it is not worth taking the FSIN’s word unconditionally).”
“The fact that this is happening right now (although Navalny should have been transferred to another colony two months ago) — now that “elections” have been announced and Navalny’s team has launched the ‘Russia without Putin” campaign — is 0% accidental and 100% directly political manual control from the Kremlin,” he added. “It is no secret to Putin who his main opponent is in these ‘elections.’ And he wants to make sure that Navalny’s voice is not heard.”
