Kremlin has ‘no information’ on missing Putin critic Alexey Navalny

Al Jazeera :
The Kremlin has said it has “no information” about jailed Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, whose lawyers have not seen since December 6.

Prison authorities moved him from the penal colony where he was serving his sentence for multiple charges including extremism, but have not said where he was transferred to.

Prison officials told a court on Friday that Navalny had left the IK-6 facility in the town of Melekhovo in the Vladimir region, about 230km (140 miles) east of Moscow, according to Vyacheslav Gimadi, the head of the legal department at Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation.

“We don’t know [where he is] for the 10th day,” the lawyer posted on X. Navalny, who rose to prominence by lampooning President Vladimir Putin’s elite and alleging extensive corruption, was sentenced in August to an additional 19 years in prison on top of the 11 and a half years he was already serving.

His allies had been preparing for his expected transfer to a “special regime” high-security facility, the harshest grade in Russia’s prison system, before he was moved.