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Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has issued his first statement after going missing for nearly three weeks.
Mr Navalny disappeared shortly after Vladimir Putin announced his intention to run for a fifth presidential term in early December. On Christmas Day his lawyers said they had tracked him down to one of Russia’s toughest prisons.
On Tuesday the jailed critic issued a statement on X, formerly Twitter, discussing the details of the past few weeks, during which many feared for his life.
Vladimir Putin (R) announced his intention to run for a fifth presidential term during a stage-managed awards ceremony with soldiers who had fought in Ukraine
Describing himself as the new Santa Claus, Mr Navalny said he was very surprised to have been found, adding that he expected to be missing until at least mid-January.
He wrote: “The 20 days of my transportation were pretty exhausting, but I’m still in a good mood, as befits a Santa Claus.
“They brought me here on Saturday night. And I was transported with such precaution and on such a strange route (Vladimir - Moscow - Chelyabinsk - Ekaterinburg - Kirov - Vorkuta - Kharp) that I didn’t expect anyone to find me here before mid-January.
“That’s why I was very surprised when the cell door was opened yesterday with the words: ‘A lawyer is here to see you.’ He told me that you had lost me, and some of you were even worried. Thanks very much for your support!”
Mr Navalny went missing on 6 December but was discovered in a penal colony above the Arctic Circle on Christmas Day. He is serving a 19-year sentence on charges of extremism.
The prison colony is located in the town of Kharp, in the Yamalo-Nenetsk region, about 1,200 miles northeast of Moscow. The region is notorious for its long and severe winters.
Mr Navalny’s chief strategist, Leonid Volkov, described the colony as almost completely cut off from the rest of the world.
“It is almost impossible to get to this colony; it is almost impossible to even send letters there. This is the highest possible level of isolation from the world,” he wrote.
Alexei Navalny has been in prison since returning to Russia in January 2021
In typically recalcitrant fashion, Mr Navalny’s public response appears to involve branding himself the new Santa Claus.
“I don't say ‘Ho-ho-ho’, but I do say ‘Oh-oh-oh’ when I look out of the window, where I can see a night, then the evening, and then the night again,” he wrote.
He added: “Since I'm Santa Claus, you're probably wondering about the presents. But I am a special-regime Santa Claus, so only those who have behaved very badly get presents .”
In Mr Navalny’s last statement before going missing, he called on Russians to use the upcoming presidential vote, set for next March, to vote against Putin’s brutal war in Ukraine.
A day later, Putin launched his bid to run for a fifth term during a stage-managed awards ceremony for soldiers who had fought in Ukraine, during which war veterans implored him to run again for office.
In those two days - the setting of the election date and Putin’s announcement to run - Mr Navalny went missing, two of his lawyers had their pretrial detention extended to 13 March, just four days before the scheduled national vote, and another opposition figure, ultranationalist Igor Girkin, had his pretrial detention extended by six months.
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2023-12-26 09:36:54Z
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