Opposition leader moved to tiny cell

Imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been transferred to a one-man cell, according to a post on his social media account.

Mr Navalny was placed in solitary confinement, also called a “punishment cell”, on November 1 but could only be held there for 15 days, according to the post on his Instagram account.

He said his new confinement is “a regular cramped cell, like the punishment cell, except that you can have not one but two books and use the prison kiosk, albeit on a very limited budget”.

The 46-year-old, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent foe, is serving a nine-year sentence in a maximum-security prison 150 miles east of Moscow.

He was arrested in January 2021 upon returning from Germany, where he had been recuperating from nerveagent poisoning he blames on the Kremlin.

Mr Navalny was given a two-and-a-half-year sentence for a parole violation and was sentenced to nine years for fraud and contempt of court. He rejects the charges as politically motivated