Kremlin foe Alexei Navalny is spending his days under strict control in a VIP cell inside one of Moscow’s most infamous jails, it has been revealed.
The prison, called Matrosskaya Tishina or Sailor’s Silence, occupies a block in Moscow’s north-east and has housed high-ranking prisoners the authorities wanted to cut off from the outside world since the Soviet era.
Reacting to the news, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a former inmate and once Russia’s richest man, warned Navalny that he would find the prison harsh and ‘could be killed any minute’.
Kremlin foe Alexei Navalny is being held at Matrosskaya Tishina, a prison that has housed high-ranking prisoners the authorities wanted to cut off from the outside world since the Soviet era
Kremlin foe Alexei Navalny (pictured during his arrest on Sunday) is spending his days under strict control in a VIP cell inside one of Moscow’s most infamous jails, it has been revealed
It comes as the 44-year-old Kremlin critic has accused the Russian leader Vladimir Putin of using state cash to fund his secret mistresses and their families, including his 17-year-old love child.
He has also claimed that Putin has a £1billion palace on the Black Sea with a red velvet pole-dancing boudoir and a casino.
The opposition leader – who was allegedly poisoned by a chemical nerve agent planted by an FSB hit squad – was detained on Sunday after flying back to Russia for the first time.
Navalny, held for now on a 30 day pre-trial detention order for failing to check in with parole authorities over a suspended prison sentence in a fraud case he says was trumped up, is occupying a three-person VIP cell.
Navalny, held for now on a 30 day pre-trial detention order for failing to check in with parole authorities over a suspended prison sentence in a fraud case he says was trumped up, is occupying a three-person VIP cell. A view taken on January 19, 2021 shows Moscow’s penal detention centre Number 1 (known as Matrosskaya Tishina)
‘I’d read about it (the prison) in books and now I’m here,’ Navalny quipped in an Instagram post. ‘Russian life.’
He will be held alone for at least two weeks due to COVID-19 precautions, said Alexei Melnikov, a member of Moscow’s Public Monitoring Commission which observes treatment of prisoners.
Mikhail Khodorkovsky, once Russia’s richest man, who spent four years in the notorious jail as its highest profile prisoner of the Putin era, tweeted that Navalny would find it harsh: ‘It’s tough in the beginning. And not much easier after. You can be killed at any minute.’
Melnikov, who visited Navalny on Monday night, said his cell had a fridge, an electric kettle, TV and hot water.
The pre-trial prison Matrosskaya Tishina where local media report former oil billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky is being held is seen in Moscow February 24, 2009. Khodorkovsky warned Navalny that he would find the prison harsh and ‘could be killed any minute’
Marina Litvinovich, another member of the monitoring commission, said the prison was famed for its control of inmates. Navalny was being held on an upper floor in a section informally supervised by Russia’s intelligence services.
‘The motto of this central Kremlin prison is isolation from information. It’s about control and isolation,’ she said. She said lawyers sometimes found it hard to access clients there and that medical attention was sometimes denied to those who refused to cooperate with investigations.
Navalny’s mother, Ludmila, complained on Wednesday that prison officials had told her they were unable to accept letters for her son for the time being due to technical problems.
Olga Romanova, head of Jailed Russia, a prisoners’ rights group, said housing Navalny at the jail was proof that he ‘is a very serious prisoner.’
The news comes Navalny has claimed that the Russian leader – who he labels the world’s richest man – uses a ‘slush fund’ to cover the expenses of his other women and their families including his 17-year-old love child.
Navalny, 44, claimed that the Russian leader Vladimir Putin (pictured) – who he labels the world’s richest man – uses a ‘slush fund’ to cover the expenses of his other women and their families including his 17-year-old love child
Vladimir Putin is accused by opposition leader Navalny of using state fund to pay for his alleged partner Alina Kabaeva (pictured right), a former gold-medal winning Olympic gymnast, and ex-mistress Svetlana Krivonogikh (pictured left)
This comprises alleged partner Alina Kabaeva, a former gold-medal winning Olympic gymnast, and ex-mistress Svetlana Krivonogikh, who is reportedly the mother of his love child, Elizaveta now aged 17, he alleged in a new video issued after his arrest in Moscow.
The lawyer and anti-corruption campaigner claimed: ‘Putin – as befits a person who imagines himself a monarch – has a rich and eventful personal life.’
‘The needs of our humble president are not at all limited to the Black Sea palace,’ said Navalny.
‘What about the relatives?
‘You do not expect that they, like some ordinary people, will live on a salary?’Everyone needs a place to live. Everyone needs a plane. Everyone needs a yacht.
‘All this must be paid for. This means that we need a financial scheme and people who will fill this scheme with money.
‘This slush fund….is used by Putin in order to cover the expenses of family members.’
Navalny claims that Putin has a £1billion palace (pictured) on the Black Sea with a red velvet pole-dancing boudoir and a casino
Former cleaner Krivonogikh, 45, ‘was just a pretty young girl, but now she has turned into an incredibly rich woman, a shareholder of Rossiya Bank.
‘No-one can understand how such happiness fell on Krivonogikh, who once worked as a cleaner.
‘Here’s the answer.
‘Krivonogikh met Putin in the late 1990s, and in 2003, according to Proekt (media), she gave birth to his daughter Elizaveta.’
She then received a number of luxury apartments via oligarch friends of Putin, said Navalny.
Meanwhile, Kabaeva controls major newspapers and TV stations in Russia as chairman of National Media Group, which belongs to another close Putin oligarch Yury Kovalchuk.
‘Kabaeva is the best in the world at jumping with a ball and a ribbon, but she would not have been able to manage television companies and newspapers if not for her connection with Putin,’ he said.
Her official salary is £7.8 million.
He taunted Putin: ‘The life of a polygamist brings not only pleasure, but also problems.’
Putin provided for the mothers of Kabaeva and Krivonogikh via a Gazprom subsidiary called Teplo Invest, he claimed.
Navalny’s team were able to create 3D images of the interiors based on the floor plans, which this reading room, which features accents of gold throughout
Navalny has also claimed that a strip club, casino and a theatre are among a series of luxurious rooms inside President Putin’s £1billion ‘palace’.
Astonishing 3D images of the estate’s interior allege ‘Putin’s palace’ features an arcade room with slot machines and a dance mat, a spa and a theatre inside the mansion, along with an underground ice rink and even vineyards in the grounds.
Navalny claims the estate, which also includes a church and strip club fitted with a lap dancers’ pole, is 39 times the size of Monaco.
The images are part of a mammoth investigation published on Navalny’s blog with a two-hour Youtube video recorded before his arrest.
The opposition figure accused Putin of owning the estate, which he claims cost £1billion and was allegedly funded through an elaborate corruption scheme involving Putin’s inner circle.
Navalny claims Putin ordered the poisoning which left him fighting for his life in August, an allegation the Kremlin has repeatedly denied.
The Kremlin opponent on Monday called for his supporters to take to the streets in response to his arrest, with his allies planning rallies in Moscow and in cities across the country on Saturday.
Lawyers Vadim Kobzev (pictured right) and Olga Mikhailova (left) of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny speak outside the Babushkinsky district court in Moscow on Wednesday
A Moscow court on Wednesday postponed the start of the trial of detained Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny on charges of defaming a World War II veteran, his lawyers said.
Olga Mikhailova, a lawyer for Navalny, told journalists the court pushed back the trial until February 5 because the opposition figure is currently in virus quarantine after returning from Germany on Sunday and being immediately put behind bars.
The court ruled that the ‘hearing has to take place with his participation’, Mikhailova said, adding that Navalny’s allies supported the decision.
Navalny was detained in a Moscow airport after returning for the first time since he was flown to Berlin in August following a poisoning attack.
On February 2, a court will consider whether Navalny’s 2014 suspended sentence of three years and six months on fraud charges should be converted to jail time.