Key Facts:
Navalny has been transferred from Settlement No. 6 east of Moscow to a settlement in the Arctic Circle called IK-3 Polar Wolf, described by his lawyer Ivan Jdanov as “one of the northernmost and most remote settlements in general.”
In his letter, Navalny mocked the lack of reindeer, stating instead that there are “huge, fluffy, and very beautiful guard dogs,” and the most important thing is that he now lives “above the Arctic Circle” in a village called Kharb, adding that his journey of 20 days was “very exhausting” but he is “still in a good mood, as befits Santa Claus.”
Navalny said he was moved to the penal settlement on Saturday night and did not expect to be found before mid-January, adding that he was “surprised” when he was told that there was a lawyer in the prison to see him.
The opposition leader stated that he “cannot entertain” his supporters “with stories about polar animals just yet” as he has seen nothing outside the “window of the cell” except for the prison wall.
Navalny told his supporters that he is “fine” and “completely comfortable” after the transfer, concluding with another joke that he is “like Santa Claus with a special system,” “only those who have behaved very badly get gifts.”
Main Background:
Navalny was found on Monday in a high-security Arctic prison after disappearing for 21 days from the penal settlement where he was serving a 19-year sentence. His spokesperson Kira Yarmysh stated on Tuesday that the opposition leader was transferred to Kharb, a settlement in the Yamalo-Nenets autonomous region. Jdanov noted that the Arctic prison does not have a letter-writing system, and access to the Zonatelecom app is not allowed, preventing Navalny from communicating with his lawyer. Navalny, the anti-corruption activist and one of Russia’s prominent opposition leaders, lost the Moscow mayoral race in 2013 and ran for the presidency in the 2018 Russian elections before being sidelined, leading to protests. In August 2020, Navalny was poisoned with a nerve agent called Novichok on a flight from the Siberian city of Tomsk to Moscow – an attack that Russian President Vladimir Putin denied any involvement in. Since then, Navalny has been convicted of fraud and contempt of court in 2022, resulting in a nine-year prison sentence, and was sentenced in August to an additional 19 years for extremism, a series of charges widely viewed as politically motivated.
Future Reading:
Putin critic Navalny found in Arctic prison 21 days after going missing
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