Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny taunts court in first appearance at Arctic prison

Vladimir Putin’s most prominent critic unsuccessfully appealed against the decision to send him to an isolation cell for insulting an inspector.

Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader, laughed and joked in court in an apparent show of defiance after being transferred to a harsh prison camp in Russia’s Arctic region.

Allies of Navalny, President Vladimir Putin’s biggest domestic critic, were unable to locate him for almost three weeks last month after he was moved from the IK-6 prison colony near Moscow to a stricter facility called the Polar Wolf.

Speaking via video link on Wednesday at his first court hearing since his disappearance, Navalny jokingly asked an official from the IK-6 facility if he and other prison staff had held a party to celebrate his departure to the Arctic. When the question was struck down by the judge, Navalny replied: “OK, I’ll rephrase it – was it a party or a karaoke evening?”

As the hearing began, Navalny sarcastically told court officials how much he had missed them during his arduous journey to his new prison camp, a former Soviet gulag facility 1930km northeast of Moscow. “A tear is flowing down my cheek – I’m so glad to see you all. My dear Kovrov court!” he said.

Navalny was arrested in January 2021 after returning to Moscow from Berlin, where he had spent months recovering from a poisoning that he said was ordered by Putin. He is serving prison sentences totalling more than 30 years on charges of fraud and extremism that he says were trumped up by the Kremlin to prevent him challenging Putin’s rule.

At Tuesday’s hearing Navalny unsuccessfully appealed against a decision to send him to an isolation cell for insulting a prison inspector. He has spent about 270 days in punishment cells since his arrest. Navalny said the inspector had unlawfully confiscated his pen. However, he acknowledged that he “went overboard” by calling the official a devil and a moron in response.

The Polar Wolf penal colony, where Navalny is serving his sentence. Picture: Reuters

“Navalny seems to be mocking the authorities. Whatever they do, they can’t break his ironic and optimistic attitude,” Abbas Gallyamov, a Russian political analyst, said. The opposition leader gained popularity in Russia before his arrest for his sardonic criticism of Putin, as well as his investigations into widespread corruption.

Navalny has urged his supporters to vote for anyone but Putin at presidential election that is due in March. None of Putin’s nominal rivals at the election have said they are aiming for victory.

Leonid Slutsky, an ultranationalist politician who is likely to take second or third place, told state media last month that he had no ambitions to become president. “I do not dream of beating Putin. What for? He is the most influential politician on the planet,” he said.

Boris Nadezhdin, an opposition politician who has called for an end to the war in Ukraine, has said he hopes to remain “alive and free” after the election.

Last week Navalny passed on a message to supporters about life at the Polar Wolf prison, where winter temperatures can fall below -30C.

“Today I went for a walk, froze, and thought of Leonardo DiCaprio and his character’s dead horse trick in the movie The Revenant. I do not think that it would have worked here. A dead horse would freeze to death in about 15 minutes. Here you need an elephant. A hot or even roasted elephant.

“If you cut open the belly of a freshly roasted elephant and crawl inside, you can keep warm for a while. But where am I going to get a hot, roasted elephant in Yamal, especially at 6.30 in the morning? So I will continue to freeze,” he said.

The Times