Jailed Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny has confirmed he is being held in a remote Arctic prison and has seen his lawyer after his spokespeople said they had lost touch with him for more than two weeks.
Navalny on Tuesday said he was in good spirits after a “pretty exhausting” 20-day transfer from a prison in the Vladimir region, in a post on X, his account routinely updated via his allies.
“I now live above the Arctic Circle. In the village of Kharp on Yamal. The nearest town has the beautiful name of Labytnangi,” he wrote, after announcing: “I am your new Santa Claus” and noting that he had grown a beard during the “20 days of my transportation”.
His spokesperson, Kira Yarmysh, on Monday said Navalny had been tracked down and was in the IK-3 penal colony in Kharp in the Yamal-Nenets region, about 1,900km (1,200 miles) northeast of Moscow.
The Kremlin critic’s whereabouts had not been known since December 6, triggering concern from his allies, rights groups and Western governments.
“The 20 days of my transportation were pretty exhausting, but I’m still in a good mood,” Navalny said.
“They brought me here on Saturday night. And I was transported with such precaution and on such a strange route (Vladimir – Moscow – Chelyabinsk – Ekaterinburg – Kirov – Vorkuta – Kharp) that I didn’t expect anyone to find me here before mid-January.
“That’s why I was very surprised when the cell door was opened yesterday with the words: ‘A lawyer is here to see you.’”
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