They denounce that Alexei Navalny was placed in isolation in his prison in the Russian Arctic

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Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who was recently moved to a penal colony in the Arctic, has revealed that he has been placed in isolation once again, this time for a week. Navalny, a prominent critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, raised concerns about his well-being after his relatives went weeks without hearing from him following his transfer to the detention center in Yamalia-Nenetsia at the end of December.

His supporters believe that the Russian authorities are attempting to further isolate him ahead of the country’s presidential election in March, which Putin is expected to win. Navalny announced on social media that he had been subjected to seven days of isolation for failing to correctly identify himself, and he also denounced the harsh conditions at the colony, including the freezing temperatures of -31 degrees Celsius and limited access to a small courtyard for walks.

The 47-year-old activist, who has been serving a 19-year prison sentence for “extremism,” has been in and out of isolation since his arrest in January 2021 upon his return from Germany, where he had been recovering from a nerve agent poisoning that he blames on the Kremlin. His spokesperson stated that this latest isolation period marks his twenty-fourth stay in isolation, out of a total of 273 days.

Navalny’s current prison, known as “Polar Wolf,” is a former Soviet Gulag establishment, and he posted a photo of the tiny fenced-in yard where he can take a walk in the morning. He has been a vocal critic of government corruption and organized large anti-Kremlin protests before his arrest.

Meanwhile, in a separate development related to the upcoming presidential election, the Russian Electoral Commission has ruled out the candidacy of journalist and former municipal councilor Yekaterina Duntsova, who advocates for democracy and an end to the offensive in Ukraine. The commission cited “errors in the documents” as the reason for discarding her candidacy, sparking further controversy surrounding the expected victory of Putin in the upcoming election.