Alexei Navalny has gone missing from Russian prison, say allies

Allies of the imprisoned Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny have said he is missing from the prison where he was serving his time.

His close associates say he is probably being transferred to another prison. In Russia, prison transfers can take days, if not weeks, and are shrouded in secrecy.

Navalny, the most determined political foe of Vladimir Putin, was arrested in January 2021 upon returning from Germany, where he had been recuperating from nerve-agent poisoning that he blames on the Kremlin, and handed a two-and-a-half-year sentence for a parole violation.

In March Navalny was sentenced to nine years in prison for fraud and contempt of court, charges he rejected as politically motivated and an attempt by the authorities to keep him behind bars for as long as possible.

The judge ordered him to serve the new sentence in a maximum-security prison. He was supposed to be transferred to one after he lost his appeal.

Until now, Navalny has been at the IK-2 penal colony in the Vladimir region, about 60 miles east of the Russian capital. The facility in the town of Pokrov stands out among Russian penitentiaries for its especially strict inmate routines, which include standing at attention for hours.