Kremlin says unaware of Navalny's whereabouts, rebuffs US concerns over his 'disappearance'

The Kremlin on Tuesday (Dec 12) claimed that it did not know the whereabouts of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny or anything about his current status.

It also rebuffed concerns by the United States over the Russian opposition leader's disappearance, dubbing it "unacceptable" and asking the United States to mind its own business.

"Here we are talking about one prisoner who, according to the law, was found guilty and is serving his sentence, and here we consider any intervention by anyone, including the United States of America, unacceptable and impossible," The Kremlin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said during a press briefing.

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US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller on Monday had said that Washington was very much concerned about Navalny's wellbeing and that the Russian authorities were responsible for his disappearance.

Navalny's lawyers on Monday (Dec 11) said that they had lost all contact with the imprisoned Russian opposition leader and his whereabouts are unknown.

Kira Yarmysh, Navalny's spokesperson, said that staff at the IK-6 facility in Melekhovo had told Navalny's lawyer waiting outside that he was no longer among its inmates.

"Today, as on Friday, the lawyers tried to get to IK-6 and IK-7 — two colonies in the Vladimir region where Alexey Navalny might be. They have just been informed simultaneously in both colonies that he is not there. We still don't know where Alexey is," Yarmysh said.

"Where they have taken him, they refuse to say," she added.

On Tuesday, Yarmysh took to social media platform X and wrote, "Today Alexei was again not brought to court to appear by video link, but now nobody is talking nonsense about an 'electricity accident'. An employee of penal colony-6 stated that Alexei had left their colony, but that he allegedly did not know where he had been transferred to."

Navalny's disappearance '0% coincidence, 100% direct political control,' says aide Volkov

Navalny aide Leonid Volkov in a posting on X said that the timing was "0% coincidence and 100% direct manual political control from the Kremlin."

He added: "It is no secret to Putin who his main opponent is in these 'elections'. And he wants to make sure that Navalny’s voice is not heard."

Earlier this month, Navalny was charged by Russian prosecutors under article 214 of the Kremlin's penal code, to which he had responded by saying, “I don’t even know whether to describe my latest news as sad, funny or absurd.”

He said that his charges were part of the Kremlin's desire to initiate a new criminal case against him every three months. Never before has a convict in solitary confinement for more than a year had such a rich social and political life, he added.

Alexei Navalny, 47, who is one of the most ardent opponents of Russian President Vladimir Putin, known for campaigning against official corruption and organizing major anti-Kremlin protests, was arrested in 2021 after he returned to Russia from Germany.

(With inputs from agencies)