Navalny aides have been preparing for his expected transfer to a \u201cspecial regime\u201d colony, the harshest grade in Russia\u2019s prison system, after he was sentenced in August to an additional 19 years in prison on top of 11\u00bd years he was already serving.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny sends a heart message to his wife Yulia while in a Russian court in early 2021.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Moscow City Court<\/cite><\/p>\n The process of moving prisoners by rail across Russia\u2019s vast territory can take weeks, with lawyers and family unable to obtain information about their location and wellbeing until they reach their destination. It was unclear if Navalny was already in transit to a new prison.<\/p>\n Navalny\u2019s spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said staff at the IK-6 facility in Melekhovo, 235 kilometres east of Moscow, had told his lawyer waiting outside that the opposition leader was no longer among its inmates.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t know where he is right now. He can be in any colony of special regime and there are about around 30 of them in Russia, all over Russia,\u201d she said. \u201cWe will try to go to every colony there is and look for him\u201d.<\/p>\n Navalny\u2019s disappearance comes at the start of the campaign period for a presidential election in which Vladimir Putin confirmed last week that he would stand for another six-year term.<\/p>\n Navalny\u2019s team is gearing up to start an \u201canti-Putin\u201d campaign, and Navalny\u2019s disappearance will not stop the effort, Yarmysh said.<\/p>\n \u201cRight now he is completely alone and he is literally in the hands of people who once tried to kill him. We don\u2019t know what they will do. This is why it is so important to talk about him and to try to find him as soon as possible,\u201d she said. \u201cIt is about his life, and his health, and about his security\u201d.<\/p>\n The Kremlin and the Russian prison service did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Putin and his spokesman make a point of never referring to Navalny by name in an attempt to portray him as politically irrelevant. They say he is treated like any other prisoner.<\/p>\n The 47-year-old is by far the best known figure in Russia\u2019s opposition. For years, he has branded Putin and the ruling elite a gang of \u201ccrooks and thieves\u201d, lampooning them in slick videos watched millions of times on YouTube.<\/p>\n He earned admiration around the world for voluntarily returning to Russia in 2021 from Germany, where he underwent treatment for what Western laboratory tests showed was an attempt to poison him with a nerve agent in Siberia. He was immediately arrested on arrival.<\/p>\n Navalny says the many charges against him \u2013 from fraud and contempt of court to a range of \u201cextremist\u201d activities \u2013 were all trumped up to silence his attacks on Putin.<\/p>\n Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelensky is in Washington to try and convince Congress to renew funding his war effort.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>AP<\/cite><\/p>\n Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky kicked off a quick visit to Washington with a warning at a defence university that Russia may be fighting in Ukraine but its \u201creal target is freedom\u201d in America and around the world. He also issued a personal plea for Congress to break its deadlock and approve continued support for Ukraine.<\/p>\n His time in Washington, which will include meetings on Wednesday (AEDT) at the White House and with Congress, is part of a last-minute push by the Biden administration to convince lawmakers to pass a supplemental funding bill, as officials warn that the money for Ukraine is running out.<\/p>\n US President Joe Biden has asked Congress for $US61.4 billion ($93.5 billion) for wartime funding for Ukraine as part of a $110 billion package that also includes money for Israel and other national security priorities.<\/p>\n But the request is caught up in a debate over US immigration policy and border security. The US has already provided Ukraine $111 billion for its fight against Russia\u2019s 2022 invasion.<\/p>\n \u201cIf there\u2019s anyone inspired by unresolved issues on Capitol Hill, it\u2019s just [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and his sick clique,\u201d Zelensky told an audience of military leaders and students at the National Defence University.<\/p>\n \u201cUkrainians haven\u2019t given up and won\u2019t give up. We know what to do. And you can count on Ukraine. And we hope just as much to be able to count on you.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n