Russian critic Alexei Navalny's disappearance draws US ‘concern’, Vladimir Putin govt remains 'unaware of whereabouts'

livemint.com:

Alexei Navalny. It was recently reported that allies of the jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said that they had been unable to locate Navalny for six days, and that he had likely been transferred to another facility. "We are talking about a prisoner who was found guilty by the law and is serving the prison sentence he received.

Any interference, including from the US, is unacceptable," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. Notably, Russia's huge prison system often takes weeks -- or longer -- to move prisoners between far-flung facilities by rail. Alexei Navalny also was also reported to be suffering from acute stomach ailments.

Doctors and analysts had suggested that the Kremlin critic might have been ‘poisoned’ by Russian authorities. Alexei Navalny had been removed from the penal colony where he had been imprisoned since 2022, his allies said, adding that they were preparing for his expected transfer to a "special regime" colony after he was sentenced in August to an additional 19 years in prison. Alexei Navalny had already been serving a 11-1/2 term.

Alexei Navalny is serving a 19-year prison sentence on extremism charges, and a court this summer ordered to move him to a harsher "special regime" prison colony. Alexei Navalny's disappearance came to limelight when staff at the IK-6 facility in Melekhovo had told Alexei Navalny's lawyer that the opposition leader was no longer among its inmates. "Today Alexei was again not brought to court to appear by video link, but now nobody is talking nonsense about an 'electricity accident'.