The imprisoned politician was transferred to a high-security prison in Melekhovo in the Vladimir region, according to Russian state media outlet TASS, citing Sergey Yazhan, chairman of the regional public oversight commission.
Yazhan told TASS on Tuesday that Navalny had arrived at the prison. However, Navalny’s spokesperson Kira Yarmysh said on Twitter that despite media reports, Navalny’s team had not received confirmation of his transfer to Melekhovo.
Lyudmila Romanova, the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Vladimir region, told TASS on Tuesday that the prison has a good reputation.
He was convicted of fraud by the Moscow court in Lefortovo over allegations that he had stolen from his Anti-Corruption Foundation.
Earlier Tuesday, Navalny’s legal team said they did not know the whereabouts of the outspoken Kremlin critic.
“He was transferred to a maximum-security prison as his sentence” [in the new criminal case] has come into effect, but we don’t know which one,” his lawyer Olga Mikhailova told CNN. “We don’t know exactly where he is.”
“We keep looking [for him]’ added Mikhailova.
According to Yarmysh, Navalny’s lawyers had come to the penal colony to meet him and were told he was not there.
