Moscow, 25 December 2023 (dpa/MIA) – Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny is now in a remote penal camp in northern Russia after going missing for more than two weeks, his spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said on Monday.

The imprisoned campaigner had once again failed to appear at a court hearing via video link on December 18, aides said, heightening fears about his fate.

President Vladimir Putin's most outspoken critic had not been seen by his lawyers for almost two weeks prior to the planned hearing.

Russian government authorities had refused to disclose where he was or fully explain his absence.

It now transpires he has been transferred from the IK-6 penal colony east of Moscow to the IK-3 facility in Kharp in the far north of Russia, 2,000 kilometres from Moscow.

"He's all right," his spokeswoman wrote.

"We have found Alexei!" announced his colleague Ivan Zhdanov, who said the so-called "Polar Wolf" prison camp was one of the most remote colonies in Russia. "The conditions there are brutal."

There is permafrost at the camp, it is very difficult to reach and no letters are delivered, he added.

Zhdanov said it had been clear from the outset that Moscow's power apparatus wanted to isolate Putin's opponent ahead of the presidential election on March 17.

Navalny, who was sentenced to 19 years in prison for alleged extremism among other charges, has repeatedly filed lawsuits against the prison system for allegedly violating his rights.

He uses court appearances to criticize Putin's authoritarian system but recently, he had no longer been connected to the hearings.

At the beginning of December, Kremlin opponents who support Navalny launched the "Russia without Putin" campaign, in which they called on voters to choose other candidates in the election.

Putin is running for the fifth time and potential contenders are considered to have no chance.

Navalny, who also survived an assassination attempt using the nerve agent Novichok in 2020, has been in prison for almost three years. He has been internationally recognized as a political prisoner.

Photo: MIA archive