Navalny has been in prison since 2021 (Picture: Getty)
Missing Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has been found alive, weeks after disappearing from a Russian prison.
The Russian opposition leader described as the man Putin fears most has been moved to a penal colony in northwestern Siberia, his team said, two weeks after he went missing.
Mr Nalvany’s spokesperson Kira Yarmysh wrote on X: ‘We have found Alexey. He is now in IK-3 in the settlement of Kharp in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District.’
Navalny’s lawyers lost contact with him on December 11, sparking concern among his supporters and family.
He has been in penal colonies near Moscow in the past (Picture: AP)
He had been sentenced to 19 years in prison in August after being found guilty of creating an extremist community, financing extremist activities and numerous other crimes.
Political activist Bill Browder recently voiced concerns to Metro.co.uk about his welfare.
Earlier this month, the Russian opposition leader’s team raised concerns after he collapsed in his prison cell during what has been described as a ‘serious health-related incident’.
Aides had expected Mr Navalny – described as the man Putin ‘fears most’ – to be moved to a harsher penal colony where Russian criminals and reoffenders are often sent.
CEO of Hermitage Capital Bill Browder had pushed for Putin to face justice after the death of not only his former lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, but Alexander Litvinenko, Boris Nemstov and countless other Russians who spoke against the Kremlin.
Mr Browder told Metro.co.uk that Mr Navalny’s disappearance is alarming and disturbing, adding: ‘In the best case, he’s being transferred between prisons – in the worst case, something catastrophic has happened to him.’
Mr Navalny was kept in solitary confinement in horrific prisons and revealed in a video interview earlier this year that he lost 18lbs in less than one month.
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