Kremlin critic Navalny describes transfer to harsh ‘Polar Wolf’ prison in Russian Arctic

Jailed Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny on Tuesday confirmed his arrival at what he described as a snow-swept prison above the Arctic Circle and said he was in excellent spirits despite a tiring 20-day journey to get there.

Navalny posted an update on X via his lawyers after his allies lost touch with him for more than two weeks while he was in transit with no information about where he was being taken, prompting expressions of concern from Western politicians.

His spokeswoman said on Monday that Navalny, 47, had been tracked down to the IK-3 penal colony north of the Arctic Circle located in Kharp in the Yamal-Nenets region about 1,900km (1200 miles) northeast of Moscow.

“I am your new Father Frost,” Navalny wrote jokingly in his first post from his new prison, a reference to the harsh weather there.

“Well, I now have a sheepskin coat, an ushanka hat (a fur hat with ear-covering flaps), and soon I will get valenki (traditional Russian winter footwear).

“The 20 days of the transfer were quite tiring, but I’m still in an excellent mood, as Father Frost should be.”

Navalny’s new home, known as “the Polar Wolf” colony, is considered to be one of the toughest prisons in Russia. Most prisoners there have been convicted of grave crimes. Winters are harsh – and temperatures are due to drop to around minus 28 Celsius (minus 18.4 Fahrenheit) there over the next week.

About 60km (40 miles) north of the Arctic Circle, the prison was founded in the 1960s as part of what was once the GULAG system of forced Soviet labour camps, according to the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper.

Navalny, who thanked his supporters and everyone else for their concern about his welfare during his long transfer, said he had seen guards with machineguns and guard dogs and had gone for a walk in the exercise area which he said was located in a neighbouring cell, the floor of which he said was covered with snow.

Anyway, don’t worry about me. I’m fine. I’m awfully glad I finally made it here

Alexei Navalny statement

Otherwise, he said he had just seen the perimeter fence out of a cell window.

“Anyway, don’t worry about me. I’m fine. I’m awfully glad I finally made it here,” said Navalny.

“I’m still in a good mood, as befits a Santa Claus,” he said, referring to his winter clothing and beard.

The US State Department said it remained “deeply concerned for Mr. Navalny’s wellbeing and the conditions of his unjust detention”.

Officers walk inside a prison colony in the Yamalo-Nenetsk region about 1,900 kilometers northeast of Moscow, where imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been transferred. Photo: Human rights ombudsman of Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District via AP

Navalny mobilised huge anti-government protests before being jailed in 2021, after surviving an assassination attempt by poisoning.

A court in August extended his sentence to 19 years on extremism charges, and ruled he be moved to a harsher “special regime” prison that usually houses particularly dangerous prisoners.

The facility Navalny is currently being held in is not consider “special regime”, there is one of that category in the same location.

Navalny posted on X that he arrived at the Arctic penal colony on Saturday and was visited by his lawyer on Monday.

“I didn’t expect anyone to find me here before mid-January,” he wrote, adding that he had seen little of his surroundings except for a snow-covered adjoining cell used as a yard and a fence outside his window.

“Unfortunately, there are no reindeer, but there are huge fluffy, and very beautiful shepherd dogs,” he said.