Correctional colony No. 3 in the village of Kharp (Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug), where Alexei Navalno was transported…

Correctional colony No. 3 in the village of Kharp (Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug), where Alexei Navalny was transported at the end of 2023, has been considered one of the harshest zones of the Union since the days of the Gulag. Firstly, because of the climate – the permafrost of the Arctic, and secondly, when the time came to fight organized crime, this was one of the camps where they were taken to “break” the so-called thieves in law.

In the “Polar Wolf,” as this penal colony is also called, Alexei Navalny was immediately placed in EPKT (a single cell-type room, the most stringent conditions in captivity) or detachment No. 9. This is a separate building on the outskirts of the colony next to the building where violators are kept (SUS, a detachment for those with strict conditions of detention, and a punishment cell – a punishment cell), as well as an industrial zone.

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According to the Cheka-OGPU, Alexey Navalny was completely isolated, and he was kept in the EPKT alone in the entire building. Back in early 2023, a special contingent was transported there when the SUS and the punishment cell were undergoing renovations. According to the convicts, they were returned back, and the detachment where the politician was subsequently placed was empty until his arrival.

The oppositionist was not assigned 15 personal “orderlies” from among other prisoners working for the regime, as was the case in the Vladimir region. But in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, a separate colony detective was assigned to Alexei Navalny, who was specially released from other work to monitor one single prisoner. This function was performed by the youngest employee of the operational department of IK-3, a graduate of the Vladimir Institute of the Federal Penitentiary Service, 29-year-old Kalmyk paratrooper Nimya Kheychiev.

The detachment where Alexey Navalny was kept was assigned to the head of the detachment, Yuri Konoveev. A 36-year-old native of the city of Rivne has been working in IK-3 for more than 5 years, in the educational department. According to his duties, the jailer had to know almost everything: where and what his charges were doing, as well as conduct conversations with “his convicts” once a month. As for the so-called “roof” under which they sit in the punishment cell, PKT and SUS, Yuriy Konoveev is the rightful owner there: he helps the operatives organize the VKR and manages not only the cells, but also the exercise yards where Alexei Navalny allegedly became ill.