Jailed Russian opposition chief Alexei Navalny transferred to unknown location

​​​​​​​Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has been transferred out of his jail colony to an unknown location, his aides say.

Kira Yarmysh, the imprisoned Russian opposition chief’s spokesperson, mentioned the transfer raised fears for his security.

Mr Navalny has been outspoken in opposition to President Vladimir Putin and was sentenced in March to 9 years in jail after he was discovered responsible of large-scale fraud and contempt of court docket.

Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, beforehand described the costs as doubtful.

It was reported final month that he faces “up to 15 more years” after new fees have been introduced.

Speaking on Twitter on Tuesday afternoon, Ms Yarmysh mentioned there had been rumours that Mr Navalny was to be moved to a high-security penal colony however that it was unattainable to know when or if he’ll arrive there.

She added: “The drawback along with his switch to a different colony just isn’t solely that the high-security colony is far scarier.

“As long as we don’t know where Alexei is, he remains one-on-one with the system that has already tried to kill him, so our main task now is to locate him as soon as possible.”

Mr Navalny, who was born close to Moscow within the then-Soviet Union, has lengthy been Mr Putin’s most vocal critic inside Russia.

In June final yr, a Russian court docket banned teams linked to Mr Navalny after declaring them “extremist”.

He has spoken out in opposition to the battle in Ukraine, calling the invasion “stupid” and “built on lies”.

While serving his jail sentence he known as on fellow residents to stage day by day protests.

He was arrested in January 2021 after returning to Russia from Germany the place he had frolicked recovering from nerve agent poisoning.

The Russian opposition chief had fallen ailing on a flight to Moscow and was subsequently discovered to have been poisoned with novichock throughout a marketing campaign journey in Siberia.