Russia’s former minister says ‘no coincidence’ as Putin’s rival Navalny remains absent from court hearings

The mystery around the disappearance of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny continues to deepen after he remained absent from two scheduled court hearings which were conducted through video link on Friday (Dec 22), as per a statement from his team.

The team of Navalny said that the prominent politician had been missing for 17 days and his current whereabouts remain unknown.

“Today Alexey was supposed to have two trials. He was again not brought to the meetings. Navalny has never been hidden for so long,” said Navalny’s team, in a Telegram post.

The unprecedented duration of the absence of Navalny from public view has sparked concerns regarding his safety and well-being.

The aides of Navalny have again submitted a plea for information in which they have offered a cryptocurrency reward for complete and reliable details regarding his current status or location.

Also read: Kremlin says unaware of Navalny's whereabouts, rebuffs US concerns over his 'disappearance'

When the Kremlin last week was repeatedly asked about the absence of Navalny, they told reporters that they had “neither the intention nor the ability to monitor the fate of prisoners and the process of their stay in the relevant institutions.”

No coincidence, says former minister

Former Russian deputy energy minister and an adviser to Navalny Vladimir Milov, while speaking to CNN, said that the timing of the disappearance of Navalny was “no coincidence”, noting Russian President Vladimir Putin's announcement that he will be running for elections in March 2024.

“I think it is a deliberate tactic. It is no coincidence that Navalny disappeared exactly the moment when the so-called sham presidential elections were announced and that Putin announced that he was going to be running again,” said Milov.

“Putin is really willing to show that he is going to enter the Kremlin for another term through intimidation, through repression, through pressure on society, and that is clearly blackmail on all the opposition forces,” he added.

Watch: Russia: Vladimir Putin's jailed opponent Alexei Navalny missing since a week, US concerned

Milov further said that even though he made efforts to find the whereabouts of Navalny, “so far, there is no answer.”

Milov added that his colleagues are required to send written and formal inquiries to detention institutions in Russia and to get information regarding the whereabouts of Navalny, a process he called “tedious” and “time and effort-consuming.”

“My colleagues have been bombarding all the known detention institutions in Russia to try and find Navalny across the country,” said Milov. 

(With inputs from agencies)