Navalny jokes about becoming Santa Claus in Arctic penal colony
By AFP
December 26, 2023
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny appeared in court by video link from prison last year - Copyright AFP Alexander NEMENOV
Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said he was “fine” Tuesday after a “pretty exhausting” 20-day transfer to a penal colony beyond the Arctic Circle.
The Kremlin critic’s whereabouts had been unknown for more than two weeks, but he is now in a penal colony in Russia’s far north and has been visited by his lawyer, his supporters said.
“Don’t worry about me. I’m fine. I’m totally relieved that I’ve finally made it,” Navalny wrote on X after arriving at the colony nicknamed “Polar Wolf”.
“I’m still in a good mood, as befits a Santa Claus,” he said, referring to his winter clothing of sheepskin coat and fur hat and the beard he grew out during his transportation.
The US State Department said it remained “deeply concerned for Mr. Navalny’s wellbeing and the conditions of his unjust detention.”
Navalny mobilised huge anti-government protests before being jailed in 2021 after surviving an assassination attempt by poisoning.
He has spent most of his detention at the IK-6 penal colony in the Vladimir region, some 250 kilometres (155 miles) east of Moscow.
A court in August extended his sentence to 19 years on extremism charges, and ruled he be moved to a harsher “special regime” prison for particularly dangerous prisoners.
Allies said his transfer could be linked to the upcoming presidential election in March, ahead of which many Kremlin critics have been jailed or fled.
“Right from the start it was clear that the authorities want to isolate Alexei, especially ahead of the elections,” said Ivan Zhdanov, who manages Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation.
Navalny has been sent to “one of the furthest north and most remote colonies of all,” Zhdanov added.
– Ex-Gulag camp –
According to the regional prison service website, the colony was built in the 1960s on the site of a camp that was part of the Stalin-era labour camp network, known as the Gulag. It can house up to 1,020 prisoners.
Inmates are put to work treating reindeer skins.
One major difference from his previous prison camp is that any letters will take much longer to reach Navalny.
Navalny posted on X that he arrived at the Arctic penal colony in the village of Kharp on Saturday and was visited by his lawyer on Monday.
Kharp is located above the Arctic Circle, over 1,900 kilometres (1,200 miles) northeast of Moscow. Its name means Northern Lights in the local Nenets language, and it is locked in the dark of the polar night in midwinter.
Navalny wrote that from his window “I can see the night, then the evening, and then the night again.”
Prisoner transfers in Russia can take weeks as inmates are moved by train to far-flung facilities.
“I didn’t expect anyone to find me here before mid-January,” Navalny wrote, adding that he had seen little of his surroundings except for a snow-covered adjoining cell used as a yard and a fence outside his window.
“Unfortunately, there are no reindeer, but there are huge fluffy and very beautiful shepherd dogs,” he said.
Temperatures in Kharp are expected to go down to minus 26 degrees Celsius (minus 14.8 Fahrenheit) in the coming days.
By AFP
December 26, 2023
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny appeared in court by video link from prison last year - Copyright AFP Alexander NEMENOV
Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said he was “fine” Tuesday after a “pretty exhausting” 20-day transfer to a penal colony beyond the Arctic Circle.
The Kremlin critic’s whereabouts had been unknown for more than two weeks, but he is now in a penal colony in Russia’s far north and has been visited by his lawyer, his supporters said.
“Don’t worry about me. I’m fine. I’m totally relieved that I’ve finally made it,” Navalny wrote on X after arriving at the colony nicknamed “Polar Wolf”.
“I’m still in a good mood, as befits a Santa Claus,” he said, referring to his winter clothing of sheepskin coat and fur hat and the beard he grew out during his transportation.
The US State Department said it remained “deeply concerned for Mr. Navalny’s wellbeing and the conditions of his unjust detention.”
Navalny mobilised huge anti-government protests before being jailed in 2021 after surviving an assassination attempt by poisoning.
He has spent most of his detention at the IK-6 penal colony in the Vladimir region, some 250 kilometres (155 miles) east of Moscow.
A court in August extended his sentence to 19 years on extremism charges, and ruled he be moved to a harsher “special regime” prison for particularly dangerous prisoners.
Allies said his transfer could be linked to the upcoming presidential election in March, ahead of which many Kremlin critics have been jailed or fled.
“Right from the start it was clear that the authorities want to isolate Alexei, especially ahead of the elections,” said Ivan Zhdanov, who manages Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation.
Navalny has been sent to “one of the furthest north and most remote colonies of all,” Zhdanov added.
– Ex-Gulag camp –
According to the regional prison service website, the colony was built in the 1960s on the site of a camp that was part of the Stalin-era labour camp network, known as the Gulag. It can house up to 1,020 prisoners.
Inmates are put to work treating reindeer skins.
One major difference from his previous prison camp is that any letters will take much longer to reach Navalny.
Navalny posted on X that he arrived at the Arctic penal colony in the village of Kharp on Saturday and was visited by his lawyer on Monday.
Kharp is located above the Arctic Circle, over 1,900 kilometres (1,200 miles) northeast of Moscow. Its name means Northern Lights in the local Nenets language, and it is locked in the dark of the polar night in midwinter.
Navalny wrote that from his window “I can see the night, then the evening, and then the night again.”
Prisoner transfers in Russia can take weeks as inmates are moved by train to far-flung facilities.
“I didn’t expect anyone to find me here before mid-January,” Navalny wrote, adding that he had seen little of his surroundings except for a snow-covered adjoining cell used as a yard and a fence outside his window.
“Unfortunately, there are no reindeer, but there are huge fluffy and very beautiful shepherd dogs,” he said.
Temperatures in Kharp are expected to go down to minus 26 degrees Celsius (minus 14.8 Fahrenheit) in the coming days.
By — Associated Press
Dec 25, 2023
MOSCOW (AP) — Associates of imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said Monday that he has been located at a prison colony above the Arctic Circle nearly three weeks after contact with him was lost.
Navalny, the most prominent foe of Russian President Vladimir Putin, is serving a 19-year sentence on charges of extremism. He had been imprisoned in the Vladimir region of central Russia, about 230 kilometers (140 miles) east of Moscow, but his lawyers said they had not been able to reach him since Dec. 6.
READ MORE: Kremlin further isolates Navalny as key ally raises alarm over missing opposition leader
His spokesperson, Kira Yarmysh, said he was located in a prison colony in the town of Kharp, in the Yamalo-Nenets region about 1,900 kilometers (1,200 miles) northeast of Moscow.
Navalny is “fine — at least as much as possible after such a long stage” and a lawyer visited him, Yarmysh told The Associated Press.
The region is notorious for long and severe winters. The town is about 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Vorkuta, whose coal mines were among the harshest of the Soviet Gulag prison-camp system.
“It is almost impossible to get to this colony; it is almost impossible to even send letters there. This is the highest possible level of isolation from the world,” Navalny’s chief strategist, Leonid Volkov, said on X.
Transfers within Russia’s prison system are shrouded in secrecy and inmates can disappear from contact for several weeks. Navalny’s team was particularly alarmed when he could not be found because he had been ill and reportedly was being denied food and kept in an unventilated cell.
Yarmysh said the transfer was connected with the campaign for the Russian presidential election in March. While Putin’s reelection is all but certain, given his overwhelming control over the country’s political scene and a widening crackdown on dissent, Navalny’s supporters and other critics hope to use the campaign to erode public support for the Kremlin leader and his military action in Ukraine.
“They deliberately sent him to this particular colony precisely in order to isolate Alexei as much as possible, so as not to give him any opportunity to communicate with the outside world,” she said. “This is all happening precisely because Alexei, despite the fact that he is in prison, is still the main opponent of Vladimir Putin … It is not surprising that they began to transfer him to another colony right now, so that he could not interfere with Putin’s campaign.”
Navalny has been behind bars in Russia since January 2021, when he returned to Moscow after recuperating in Germany from nerve agent poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin. Before his arrest, he campaigned against official corruption and organized major anti-Kremlin protests.
Putin nemesis Navalny in 10 dates
By AFP
December 25, 2023
Alexei Navalny at a Moscow court hearing in February 2021
By AFP
December 25, 2023
Alexei Navalny at a Moscow court hearing in February 2021
- Copyright AFP/File GERARD JULIEN
Russia’s top opposition politician Alexei Navalny survived a poisoning attack in 2020 only to be sentenced to 19 years in a penal colony.
After his allies said he had been transferred to an Arctic prison after more than two weeks in which his whereabouts were unknown, here are 10 key dates in his campaign against Russian President Vladimir Putin.
– 2007: anti-corruption campaigner –
Navalny begins buying shares in state-owned oil giants to access company reports and scour them for evidence of corruption, which he documents on his blog.
The same year he is excluded from the liberal opposition party Yabloko for taking part in “nationalist activities”.
– December 2011: leads election protests –
In 2011, Navalny sets up the Anti-Corruption Foundation, which gains a huge following with exposes about the vast riches amassed by Kremlin elites.
In the winter of 2011-2012, he leads huge protests after parliamentary elections won by Putin’s United Russia party, a vote marred by allegations of fraud.
– July 2013: embezzlement conviction –
In 2013, Navalny is convicted of defrauding the government in the Kirov region of 16 million rubles ($500,000) in a timber deal while acting as an advisor to the governor.
He denies the charges, claiming they are an attempt to silence him.
– September 2013: Moscow mayoral bid –
Navalny finishes a strong second behind Kremlin-backed incumbent Sergei Sobyanin in the race for mayor of Moscow.
Navalny says Sobyanin rigged the vote at several polling stations, but his calls for a recount are dismissed.
– March 2017: Medvedev ‘duck’ expose –
Navalny publishes a high-profile video about the lavish lifestyle of then prime minister Dmitry Medvedev, which includes a claim that one of his estates has a duck house in the middle of a pond, sparking rallies.
– December 2018: barred from presidential election –
Navalny is barred from running for president against Putin because of his embezzlement conviction.
He urges Russians to boycott the vote, which nonetheless sees Putin secure a fourth term.
– August 2020: poisoning –
Navalny is hospitalised on August 20, 2020, in Siberia and placed in a medically induced coma after losing consciousness during a flight.
He is transferred to a hospital in Berlin, where tests show he was poisoned with Novichok, a Soviet-era nerve agent.
He accuses Putin of being behind his poisoning, which the Kremlin denies.
– January-February 2021: arrested and jailed –
Navalny returns to Moscow, where he is detained shortly after landing at the airport.
Tens of thousands of people demonstrate across Russia for his release.
In February, he is handed a two-and-a-half-year sentence for breaching the conditions of a suspended sentence while recuperating in Germany, and sent to a penal colony.
– March 2022: nine-year sentence –
Navalny’s sentence is increased to nine years after a conviction on new charges of embezzlement and contempt of court.
He is transferred to a maximum-security prison around 250 kilometres (155 miles) east of Moscow, from where he regularly denounces the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
– August 2023: 19 years –
A gaunt Navalny, who has experienced major weight loss in prison, is sentenced to an additional 19 years at a harsher “special regime” facility on charges of “extremism”.
Navalny goes missing for over two weeks in December in what his allies say is an effort to silence him ahead of a presidential election in March 2024.
On December 25, his allies say he has finally been located in a remote penal colony north of the Arctic Circle and his lawyer has been able to visit him.
Russia’s top opposition politician Alexei Navalny survived a poisoning attack in 2020 only to be sentenced to 19 years in a penal colony.
After his allies said he had been transferred to an Arctic prison after more than two weeks in which his whereabouts were unknown, here are 10 key dates in his campaign against Russian President Vladimir Putin.
– 2007: anti-corruption campaigner –
Navalny begins buying shares in state-owned oil giants to access company reports and scour them for evidence of corruption, which he documents on his blog.
The same year he is excluded from the liberal opposition party Yabloko for taking part in “nationalist activities”.
– December 2011: leads election protests –
In 2011, Navalny sets up the Anti-Corruption Foundation, which gains a huge following with exposes about the vast riches amassed by Kremlin elites.
In the winter of 2011-2012, he leads huge protests after parliamentary elections won by Putin’s United Russia party, a vote marred by allegations of fraud.
– July 2013: embezzlement conviction –
In 2013, Navalny is convicted of defrauding the government in the Kirov region of 16 million rubles ($500,000) in a timber deal while acting as an advisor to the governor.
He denies the charges, claiming they are an attempt to silence him.
– September 2013: Moscow mayoral bid –
Navalny finishes a strong second behind Kremlin-backed incumbent Sergei Sobyanin in the race for mayor of Moscow.
Navalny says Sobyanin rigged the vote at several polling stations, but his calls for a recount are dismissed.
– March 2017: Medvedev ‘duck’ expose –
Navalny publishes a high-profile video about the lavish lifestyle of then prime minister Dmitry Medvedev, which includes a claim that one of his estates has a duck house in the middle of a pond, sparking rallies.
– December 2018: barred from presidential election –
Navalny is barred from running for president against Putin because of his embezzlement conviction.
He urges Russians to boycott the vote, which nonetheless sees Putin secure a fourth term.
– August 2020: poisoning –
Navalny is hospitalised on August 20, 2020, in Siberia and placed in a medically induced coma after losing consciousness during a flight.
He is transferred to a hospital in Berlin, where tests show he was poisoned with Novichok, a Soviet-era nerve agent.
He accuses Putin of being behind his poisoning, which the Kremlin denies.
– January-February 2021: arrested and jailed –
Navalny returns to Moscow, where he is detained shortly after landing at the airport.
Tens of thousands of people demonstrate across Russia for his release.
In February, he is handed a two-and-a-half-year sentence for breaching the conditions of a suspended sentence while recuperating in Germany, and sent to a penal colony.
– March 2022: nine-year sentence –
Navalny’s sentence is increased to nine years after a conviction on new charges of embezzlement and contempt of court.
He is transferred to a maximum-security prison around 250 kilometres (155 miles) east of Moscow, from where he regularly denounces the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
– August 2023: 19 years –
A gaunt Navalny, who has experienced major weight loss in prison, is sentenced to an additional 19 years at a harsher “special regime” facility on charges of “extremism”.
Navalny goes missing for over two weeks in December in what his allies say is an effort to silence him ahead of a presidential election in March 2024.
On December 25, his allies say he has finally been located in a remote penal colony north of the Arctic Circle and his lawyer has been able to visit him.
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