Why Navalny must be freed from Putin’s barbaric tyranny now

Editorial: Banishing Russia’s leading opposition figure to a penal colony in the Arctic Circle ahead of presidential elections is evidence not of the Kremlin’s strength but of its weakness. He must be released immediately

After a three-week journey to a remote Gulag in the Arctic wastes, Navalny joked about Father Frost, Russia’s version of Santa Claus (Reuters)

The Yamal peninsula is one of the bleakest places in the world. At this time of year, it exists in a perpetual exchange between darkness and dusk; blizzards rage, winds howl and the temperature often dips below -30C. This is where Russia’s leading opposition figure, Alexei Navalny, has begun serving a 30-year sentence, which includes 19 years that were added after a new trial took place last summer in which he was convicted on charges of extremism.

For much of this month, Mr Navalny had appeared to be lost in Russia’s prison system. It has now transpired that, even as Western countries were preparing to celebrate Christmas, with bright lights, warm fires and festive food, he was completing a near three-week winter journey from the prison where he had been held near Vladimir, north of Moscow.

The end of this trek, details of which emerged only on 25 December, was the IK-3 penal colony at Kharp inside the Arctic Circle – almost 2,000km further to the northeast – which is also known as the Polar Wolf colony.