Russian dissident in solitary jail cell

Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader jailed after surviving an assassination attempt, said Thursday that he has been transferred permanently to a solitary confinement cell that would limit his contact with other prisoners and the outside world.

“They’re doing it to keep me quiet,” Navalny said in posts on his verified Twitter account, adding that staying in the small, cramped cell was typically limited to 15 days as a punishment. The rules also bar “long visits” from relatives, he said.

The order came just four days before his family was expected to come see him, according to a post on Twitter from Team Navalny, the core organizers behind his opposition movement, who have all fled Russia.

Navalny was incarcerated in the notorious Penal Colony No. 2, just east of Moscow, in March 2021 after he returned to Russia from Germany, where he had been recuperating. White House officials said U.S. intelligence agencies had concluded Russian security police agents had poisoned Navalny. There is substantial evidence the Kremlin was behind the poisoning.

At least nine years have already been added to his initial two-year sentence, and few expect him to emerge from prison while Putin is still president.