Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has issued his first statement after disappearing for nearly three weeks.
Mr Navalny vanished shortly after Vladimir Putin announced his intention to run for a fifth presidential term in early December. On Christmas Day, Navalny’s lawyers said they had tracked him down to one of Russia’s toughest prisons.
On Tuesday, the jailed critic made a series of bizarre posts on X, formerly Twitter, discussing the details of the past few weeks, during which many feared for his life.
Playing on the theme of being found on Christmas Day in a penal colony near the Arctic Circle, Mr Navalny began his statement by describing himself as the new Santa Claus.
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— (EPA)
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 the penal colony 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— (Getty Images)
Mr Navalny appears to make light of his incarceration with further posts about Father Christmas.
“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 tweeted.
“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,” he added.
In Mr Navalny’s last statement before going missing, he called on Russians to use the upcoming presidential vote, set for 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.
During those two days – the setting of the election date and Putin’s announcement to run – Mr Navalny went missing, while two of his lawyers had their own pre-trial detentions extended to 13 March, just four days before the scheduled national vote, and another opposition figure, ultranationalist Igor Girkin, had his pre-trial detention extended by six months.
