A screen shows the already imprisoned Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny (2L) as he listens to his verdict over a series of extremism charges at the IK-6 penal colony, a maximum-security prison some 250 kilometres (155 miles) east of Moscow, in the settlement of Melekhovo in the Vladimir region on August 4, 2023. (Photo by Alexander NEMENOV / AFP)
Moscow: Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been moved to a penal colony in the Arctic, allies said on Monday after over two weeks during which his whereabouts were unknown.
Authorities transferred Russia's most prominent opposition politician to an isolated penal colony three months before a presidential vote expected to easily hand Vladimir Putin a fifth term.
"We have found Alexei Navalny," his ally, Kira Yarmysh, said on social media.
"He is now in IK-3 in the settlement of Kharp in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District," Yarmysh added. "His lawyer visited him today. Alexei is doing well."
The district of Kharp, home to about 5,000 people, is located above the Arctic Circle.
It is "one of the most northern and remote colonies," said Ivan Zhdanov, who manages Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation.
"Conditions there are harsh, with a special regime in the permafrost zone" and very little contact to the outside world, Zhdanov said.
Navalny mobilised huge anti-government protests before being jailed in 2021, after surviving an attempt to assassinate him by poisoning.
He first spent most of his detention at the IK-6 penal colony, some 250 kilometres (155 miles) east of Moscow in the Vladimir region.
A court extended his sentence to 19 years on extremism charges.
It also ruled that he be moved to a harsher special regime prison, usually housing particularly dangerous prisoners.
After weeks of uncertainty, Navalny was found at IK-3 -- "Polar Wolf " -- a strict regime colony.
He could be moved to the nearby penal colony No.18 -- "Polar Owl" -- which has an even harsher regime.
