Jailed Putin Foe Alexei Navalny Has Been Moved to Remote Arctic Prison, Team Says

Jailed Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny, who had been unreachable for more than two weeks, has been moved to a remote penal colony in the country’s far north, making it far harder for him to organize any meaningful resistance to Vladimir Putin’s plan to remain in power in next year’s presidential election.

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. But on Monday, his team said he has 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. They said that sending letters there was nearly impossible.