Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued a statement Saturday showing his concern for missing Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
Blinken commented on the three-week period that has passed since Navalny’s lawyers have heard from their client. In the meantime, Navalny has missed a virtual court date and letters sent to him are not delivered.
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“We are deeply concerned about the whereabouts of Aleksey Navalny, who has now been missing in Russia’s prison system for nearly three weeks,” Blinken wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “We once more call for his immediate release and an end to the continued repression of independent voices in Russia.”
Navalny, who has been on a mission to expose corruption at the Kremlin, was originally sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison in 2021. Nine years were added to his sentence last year, along with an additional 19 this year.
We are deeply concerned about the whereabouts of Aleksey Navalny, who has now been missing in Russia’s prison system for nearly three weeks. We once more call for his immediate release and an end to the continued repression of independent voices in Russia.
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) December 23, 2023
When Judge Andrei Suvorov issued the most recent sentence, Blinken condemned the move as “politically motivated.”
“The Kremlin cannot silence the truth,” Blinken said in a statement at the time. “Navalny should be released.”
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Russian President Vladimir Putin’s administration has shrugged off Navalny’s missing case, claiming it does not “monitor the fate” of any one prisoner in its institutions.
Navalny’s disappearance comes as Russia’s next election cycle is about to take place in March 2024. Putin is seeking his fifth term, which would last until 2030. The Russian president was only bested once — by Dmitry Medvedev, who served for a single term before Putin regained office in 2012.
