Alexei Navalny jokes in last public appearance before death in prison

Alexei Navalny joked with journalists in his final public appearance before his death in an Arctic jail which was reported on Friday, 16 February, by the prison service in the Yamalo-Nenets region where he had been serving his sentence.

The Russian opposition leader, 47, was Vladimir Putin's most prominent critic.

He was imprisoned in 2021 when he returned to Russia having been treated in Germany for poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin.

"Conditions of detention [are good], touch wood. That's a dig at you, dear defendants," Navalny can be heard joking in his final public appearance in a video call from the IK-3 penal colony in January.