Jailed Alexei Navalny says he’s fine after weeks missing in gulag

Putin critic thanks supporters in his first comments since disappearing almost three weeks ago in Russia

Alexei Navalny, seen in June, had missed a series of court dates in recent weeks and his team hadn’t been able to locate the opposition leader. Picture: AFP

Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny resurfaced on social media Tuesday, telling his supporters not to worry about him a day after his associates confirmed he has been traced to a remote penal colony in Russia’s Far North.

“I am fine,” Mr Navalny said in his first comments since his disappearance almost three weeks ago, posted via his allies on the social-media platform X. “Thanks again to everyone for your support.”

Mr Navalny had missed a series of court dates in recent weeks and his team hadn’t been able to locate him at various penal institutions across the country. His disappearance stirred concern for his well-being among supporters in Russia, as well as in European capitals and in Washington.

On Tuesday, Mr Navalny confirmed that he had been transferred to a prison colony known as “the Polar Wolf,” in the remote Arctic region of Yamalo-Nenets, a bitingly cold, highly isolated and difficult area to reach.

“I am your new Santa Claus,” he said using his typically acerbic humour and adding that he now had a sheepskin coat, a fur hat with ear-covering flaps and traditional Russian felt winter boots. “Unfortunately, there are no reindeer, but there are huge fluffy, and very beautiful shepherd dogs. I now live above the Arctic Circle.”

Navalny had most recently been incarcerated at IK-6 Melekhovo correctional colony around 240km east of Moscow, where he was serving sentences amounting to more than 30 years on various charges. He said he arrived at the new Arctic facility on Saturday night after being “transported with such caution and on a strange route” for 20 days.

“I didn’t expect anyone to find me here before mid-January,” Mr Navalny said.
A fierce anti-corruption campaigner who galvanised Russia’s political opposition and a vocal critic of President Vladimir Putin, Mr Navalny has long been a thorn in the side of the Kremlin. In prison, he has continued to lampoon the ruling elite and used his legal representation to post messages on social media to chastise Mr Putin for alleged corruption and what he has described as the Russian leader’s enslavement of his people.

Mr Navalny’s disappearance this month came as Mr Putin confirmed he would run in a presidential election on March 17, a move that is expected to produce a victory that will extend his rule for another six years. Mr Navalny had called on Russians to cast a vote for anyone but Putin.

His allies said transferring him to such a far-flung location was designed to try to silence the opposition leader. Access to the prison facility is tough and sending letters there is nearly impossible, they said.

“Putin wants Alexei Navalny isolated to reduce his influence, even from prison, in Russia’s presidential election in March,” wrote Kira Yarmysh, Navalny’s press secretary, Tuesday on X.

The Kremlin denied knowing anything about Mr Navalny’s whereabouts during the time he was missing, insisting that it wasn’t tracking the opposition leader’s case. In recent years, Russian authorities have sought to crush any opposition to Putin’s more than two-decade rule. Government critics, human-rights activists and journalists have been jailed for lengthy terms, slapped with big fines or forced to flee the country.

In his message to supporters Tuesday, Navalny sought to show that he remained in high spirits and unbroken.

“Don’t worry about me,” he said. “I’m totally relieved that I’ve finally made it.”

The Wall Street Journal