Alexey Navalny's team claims he's missing from prison

Alexey Navalny's lawyers announced Monday that they have lost contact with the detained Russian opposition leader, who was believed to be in a correctional colony 150 miles east of Moscow.

Navalny was sentenced to 19 years in prison in August for organizing an extremist community, funding extremism, and other crimes. He was serving 11-and-a-half years in a maximum security prison for fraud and other accusations he disputes.

Navalny supporters say his arrest and incarceration are politically motivated to suppress his criticism of Putin.

On Monday, spokesman Kira Yarmysh said lawyers had tried to enter two correctional colonies where Navalny, who has major health concerns, was believed to be. Yarmysh noted that the 47-year-old was neither at IK-6 or IK-7 correctional colonies.

Yarmysh wrote, “On Friday and throughout today, neither IK-6 nor IK-7 responded to them,” adding that Navalny had been AWOL for six days. The IK-6 penitentiary camp east of Moscow held Navalny last.

According to accounts, Navalny disappeared. The White House was “deeply concerned”.

He should be released immediately. He should never have been jailed in the first place, and we’re going to work with our embassy in Moscow to see how much more we can find out,” John Kirby, US National Security Council spokesman, told reporters aboard Air Force One.