Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny has been transferred from the IK-6 prison colony located in the Vladimir region, east of Moscow, but his current whereabouts are unknown, his associates on social media platform X reported today, as he has not they had heard from him for more than 5 days.

Today, like last Friday, his lawyers tried to visit him in the prisons where he was held until recently but were informed that he is no longer there, without giving them any further information.

Recently, via social media, Navalny called on Russians to vote en masse against Vladimir Putin in the upcoming presidential election.

Navalny’s associates had been bracing for a possible transfer to a stricter colony after he was sentenced in August to an additional 19 years in prison.

The 47-year-old Navalny is already serving penaltieswhich arrive in total over 30 years in prisonon charges including extremism, which he denies, and has spent most of the past two years in isolation.

In comments made public by associates, Navalny says he is now charged under Article 214 of the criminal code, which covers vandalism.

“Every three months they bring a new criminal case against me. Rarely does someone, who has been locked up in solitary confinement for more than a year, have such a vibrant social and political existence,” he emphasized a few days ago.