Putin critic Navalny moved to high-security prison after abrupt transfer

• He was already serving a prison sentence of about 2.5 years at a prison camp around 74 miles east of Moscow for violating parole after fleeing to Germany to recover from a poisoning attempt by Russia's security forces in 2020.
• He has accused Russian President Vladimir Putin and other Kremlin officials of corruption.

What they're saying: "Alexei Navalny was transported away from the penal colony No. 2," his spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said in a tweet Tuesday.

• "His lawyer, who came to see him, was kept at the checkpoint until 14.00, and was then told: 'There is no such convict here,'" Yarmysh added.
• "The problem with his transfer to another colony is not only that the high-security colony is much scarier. As long as we don't know where Alexei is, he remains one-on-one with the system that has already tried to kill him, so our main task now is to locate him as soon as possible."

The big picture: Navalny said he was transferred to a high-security penal colony IK-6 in Melekhovo, which is about 155 miles east of Moscow.

• Multiple inmates who served time in the Melekhovo prison have accused guards of beating, humiliating and raping them, according to the Washington Post.
• "Melekhovo is a high-security colony. Conditions there are already worse than in other prisons: fewer parcels, fewer visits. But it's even worse than that: there is no law there. And that's where Putin wants to put Navalny for not being afraid of him and telling the truth," Yarmysh said in May, after hearing rumors that Navalny may be sent there.