US 'deeply concerned' by reports of Alexei Navalny ‘missing’ from prison months ahead of Russian presidential elections

The United States has expressed deep concern over the lack of information about the whereabouts of jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Allies of Navalny reported that they have not received any updates on him recently. The US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby emphasised the troubling nature of these reports, stating that Navalny has allegedly been missing for a week, with neither his representatives nor family aware of his location. Kirby called for Navalny’s immediate release, asserting that he should never have been imprisoned in the first place. While traveling with President Joe Biden to Philadelphia, Kirby informed journalists aboard Air Force One about the US government’s commitment to working with the embassy in Moscow to gather more information on Navalny’s situation. Navalny’s allies revealed on Monday that they had been unsuccessful in locating him for the past six days. They suspect that he may have been transferred from the prison where he was serving a 19-year sentence on extremism charges, following a court order this summer to move him to a more stringent “special regime” prison colony. Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh expressed uncertainty about his whereabouts through social media, stating that they still do not know where he is. With inputs from AFP