Navalny survival ‘may depend on value to Putin’

Alexei Navalny’s survival may depend on his value to Vladimir Putin as a future bargaining chip, his chief aide said, warning that the opposition leader’s health was at risk after being forced into indefinite solitary confinement.

Leonid Volkov, speaking on a visit to London, said Navalny had lost access to his family and was being detained in an “8 by 12ft” cell after the isolation decision by Russian authorities last week.

Only Navalny’s lawyers were allowed to visit his prison colony, and “they are not allowed to see him; they only can talk to him through an opaque glass”.