CNN’s Amanpour Reports Lawyers For Putin Critic Alexei Navalny Have Lost Contact With Him

Alexei Navalny’s allies have notified the media that they’ve lost track of the Russian opposition leader, having been unable to locate him at the penal colony where he has been imprisoned.

Navalny spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh announced Monday on social media that she and her team haven’t been able to contact him for almost a week. Yarmysh said prison officials have claimed that Navalny has been inaccessible because of electrical problems at the colony, though she has been raising the alarm for the last few days with concerns for Navalny’s health, a recurring source of concern ever since he survived an assassination attempt ordered by Vladimir Putin.

“This is already the sixth day since we don’t know where Alexey is or what’s happening to him,” she said in a translated version of a post she put up on X (formerly Twitter). Yarmysh added that her team has inquired for his location at other prisons, but as Christiane Amanpour put it in her coverage for CNN, “his current whereabouts are unknown.”

Алексея @navalny опять не вывели в суд по видеосвязи. «С 7 декабря не можем починить электричество» – утверждают представители колонии. Просто издеваются.

Это уже шестой день, как мы не знаем, где Алексей и что с ним происходит.

— Кира Ярмыш (@Kira_Yarmysh) December 11, 2023

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.

— Кира Ярмыш (@Kira_Yarmysh) December 11, 2023

Navalny’s disappearance follows Putin’s announcement that he will run for president again next year, which would allow him to remain in power within Russia for the next six years if he wins.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told CNN the Biden administration is “deeply concerned” with the development, and that “[Navalny] should be released immediately. He should never have been jailed in the first place, and we’re going to work with our embassy in Moscow to see how much more we can find out.”

Watch above via CNN.