Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has said he is "fine" after a "quite grueling" 20-day transfer from prison to a penal colony beyond the Arctic Circle.
"Don't worry about me. I'm fine. I'm totally relieved to finally make it," he wrote on X, adding: "Still in good spirits as befits a Santa," referring to his winter outfit and beard.
The US State Department said it remained "deeply concerned about the well-being of Mr Navalny and the conditions of his unjust detention".
Navalny mobilized massive anti-government protests before being jailed in 2021 after surviving an assassination attempt by poisoning.
He spent most of his detention in the IK-6 penal colony in the Vladimir region, about 250 km east of Moscow.
Last August, a court extended his sentence to 19 years on extremism charges and ordered that he be moved to a tougher, special-regime prison that usually houses particularly dangerous inmates.
Navalny told X that he arrived at the Arctic penal colony on Saturday and was visited by his lawyer on Monday.
"I didn't expect anyone to find me here before the middle of January," he wrote, adding that he saw almost nothing of his surroundings, except for the snow-covered cell next door, used as a yard, and the fence outside his window .
"Unfortunately there are no reindeer, but there are huge fluffy and very beautiful sheepdogs," he says. /BGNES
