Alexei Navalny: Found

Town of Kharp in Arctic Russya

      Our Minister of Asian Affairs has informed the Mayor's Office that opposition leader, the imprisoned Alexei Navalny, has been located. He is in a penal colony in the town of Kharp, in the Siberian region of the largest country in the world, Russya, Land of Rus. Kharp is home to two penal colonies: Owl Colony and Polar Wolf.

       Well, now, peoples, where is this 'town'? Siberia: we've heard of it, supposed to be cold there. It's vast: stretching from the Urals to the Pacific Ocean in the east Asian rim. It's north of the Arctic Circle(63 degrees N latitude) and at this time of year is dark, receiving a hint of twilight twice a day. The nearby Sob River(no, not filled with tears) remains frozen about 9 months of the year. Locals are Nenets people, indigenous herders who eek out a living in this region as they move with their herds across the landscape to find forage for the animals. While appearing as nomads, they practice transhumanse: seasonally following weather/climate conditions suitable for this practice. Harsh conditions prevail year round.

      So, in keeping with Kremlin practice of isolating opponents, two penal colony prisons were established some time ago; places where the guards and support staff share the environmental conditions meant to convey government control of individuals. The Czars used this method to great effect. The modern Czar, Putin has taken up where the Romanovs left off. One of the most recent new residents is the well known dissident Alexei Navalny, one of the thousands of Russyans who despise the former KGB colonel, ex-deputy mayor of St. Pete's, and former friend of the late Yevgeny Prighozin, assassinated leader of the Wagner Group.

      Kharp town is located on the Sob River, a tributary of the massive Ob River which flows from the southern Urals north on the eastern edge of the mountains to the Gulf of Obskaya, a 500 mile long body of ocean that is a finger of the Arctic Ocean. The western shore is the Yamal peninsula, a mountainous space almost completely uninhabited for every good reason.

       The guards and staff have state provided housing, and receive about 50K rubles/year median salary, plus a bonus if they stay during the winter(Ha!). The inmates suffer through the year with minimal protections from the environment: enough heat and clothing to survive without contracting the usual diseases found in the region: ample respiratory infections. Alexei has a 19 year sentence to carry out, and at 47 years of age will be close to retirement age when he is released. This should happen after the former KGB operative goes to his reward somewhere.

     Merry Christmas, Alexei.