Putin Critic Alexei Navalny Located at Siberian Penal Colony

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Facts

  • Russia's opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been located at the IK-3 penal colony in Kharp, Siberia, after weeks spent missing. His spokesperson Kira Yarmysh claimed on Tuesday that his team had filed 680 requests before learning of his whereabouts.1
  • In an open letter — posted on the X social media platform after one of his lawyers visited him in Russia's Arctic on Monday — the jailed Kremlin foe detailed his 20-day transfer to the high-security prison colony and sought to reassure supporters that he is safe and well.2
  • Navalny — last seen Dec. 6 — had previously been held in Melekhovo, 235 km (145 miles) east of Moscow. He stated that he was moved to the capital, then east to the Urals mountain and again to the west before arriving in the prison nicknamed 'Polar Wolf.'3
  • The snow-swept penal colony is located in the Yamal-Nenets region and is considered one of the toughest prisons in Russia, with most of its inmates being convicted of serious crimes. Over the next week, temperatures are due to drop to around minus 28 degrees Celsius (minus 18.4 F) in the area.4
  • Navalny is currently serving a 19-year sentence on charges of extremism concurrently with a nine-year jail term on counts of fraud and contempt of court. He was poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok on a flight from Siberia's Tomsk to Moscow in 2020, an attack in which the Kremlin denies any involvement.5
  • Meanwhile, the Central Election Commission rejected last week the self-styled pro-peace, pro-democracy presidential candidacy of former TV journalist Yekaterina Duntsova over alleged paperwork errors. The presidential vote scheduled for March is expected to hand Vladimir Putin a fifth term as president.6

Sources: 1CNN, 2The Moscow Times, 3BBC News, 4Reuters, 5Forbes and 6The Hill.

Narratives

  • Anti-Russia narrative, as provided by France 24. While it is a great relief to finally know that Alexei Navalny is still alive, the international community must exert further pressure on Russia to demand his immediate release. The Kremlin has unjustifiably targeted him and more than 600 other political prisoners in an escalating crackdown on independent voices that includes human rights violations such as this transfer.
  • Pro-Russia narrative, as provided by TASS. The US and its allies should refrain from meddling in Russian domestic affairs, particularly with regard to a convicted terrorist and extremist such as the blogger Alexei Navalny, who is serving his due sentence in accordance the the law. Any external interference is inadmissible and unacceptable, as it would violate Russia's sovereignty.

Predictions