‘Where is Navalny?’ The search is on for the missing Russian dissident.

After two weeks without word from Aleksei A. Navalny, Russia’s most prominent opposition figure, his lawyers and allies, fearing the worst, are waging a frantic campaign to find him.

Their efforts include request information from dozens of Russian prisons and through social media to raise awareness of Mr. Navalny’s disappearance and call on the Russian government to reveal his whereabouts.

Many Russians living abroad have gone to their country’s diplomatic missions to protest. Some held up posters reading: “Where is Navalny?”

Dmitry S. Peskov, spokesman for President Vladimir V. Putin, told journalists on Friday that the Kremlin had “neither the ability, nor the right or desire to find out the fate of convicts,” referring to Mr. Navalny.

This is what we know about Mr Navalny and his disappearance.

When did Mr. Navalny disappear?

The last time Mr Navalny’s lawyers heard from him was on December 5. The next day, one of his lawyers waited for seven hours outside the penal colony where Mr Navalny was being held but was not allowed to see him, Kira Yarmysh. said a spokeswoman for Mr Navalny. Mr. Navalny then not appeared via video link during a scheduled court hearing the following day, December 7.

In the days after Mr Navalny’s disappearance, his allies grew increasingly concerned as letters sent to him went undelivered and authorities refused to reveal his location to his lawyers. On December 11, officials at the prison colony that had held Mr. Navalny — in Melekhovo, a town about 160 miles east of Moscow — told his lawyers that he was no longer among the prisoners, Ms. Yarmysh said.

Mr Navalny was due to appear in several court hearings on Monday. she added. One of the courts where he was scheduled to appear suspended his case because he could not be located. Vyacheslav Gimadi, member of Mr Navalny’s legal team, posted on social media.

Where could he be?

As part of his latest sentence, handed down by a Russian court in August following a conviction for supporting “extremism”, Mr Navalny would be transferred to one of Russia’s “special regime” colonies, known for their harsh treatment of prisoners. There are at least 25 such prisons spread across Russia, from the European part of the country to the Arctic Circle and the Far East.

But by early December he had not yet been moved. Mr Navalny proposed a series of social media posts in November, the reason was that Russian investigators were unwilling to travel to remote special regime colonies while pursuing further cases against him.

If he has now been transferred to one of those penal colonies, that could explain his current disappearance.

Detainees transferred to remote prisons in Russia may spend long weeks shuttling between trains in special prison train cars with little or no access to the outside world.

By law, relatives must receive a notice, usually by post, within 10 days of a prisoner’s arrival at a new destination, and it can take up to 20 days for such a letter to arrive, said Yevgeny Smirnov, a Russian lawyer. According to Mr Smirnov, the Russian prison system considers information about such transfers a state secret.

“A transfer between prisons is the most dangerous time for a convict,” Mr Smirnov said in response to written questions. “During that period, they change a large number of transit points and have no way to contact the outside world,” he added. He also noted that, based on past experience, prisoners could be in transit and incommunicado for two to three months.

Last week, Baza, a Russian news channel, said: reported that Mr Navalny had been transferred to a detention center in Moscow awaiting trial on new criminal charges. But Ivan Zhdanov, the head of Mr Navalny’s anti-corruption foundation, reported that the group had checked all detention centers in Moscow without finding him.

On Saturday, Olga Romanova, a Russian prison rights activist, said said on Facebook that Mr Navalny was being treated in a prison hospital in the city of Vladimir, near Melekhovo. But that claim has not been verified.

Why was Mr Navalny imprisoned?

Mr Navalny, 47, is the only Russian opposition figure in the past decade to mount a significant political challenge to Mr Putin. He built a robust organization, attracted thousands of Russians to his rallies across the country, and involved many young people in politics.

He has been in custody in Russia since his detention in January 2021 at a Moscow airport, where he arrived after spending months in Germany recovering from a nerve agent poisoning. Mr. Navalny and Western governments accused the Kremlin of poisoning him, which Russian officials denied.

Since then, Russian authorities have brought forward a host of new charges against Mr. Navalny. According to Mrs. Yarmyshhe is currently a suspect in 14 criminal cases and faces a prison sentence of up to 35 years.

What activities did he pursue in prison?

Since entering Russia’s prison system, Mr. Navalny has filed a series of lawsuits against authorities.

A lawyer by trade, he has filed lawsuits demanding access to decent dental care, complaining about loudspeakers in his cell that repeatedly broadcast Mr. Putin’s speeches and protesting wiretapping in a room he uses to meet with lawyers.

Despite his imprisonment under increasingly harsh conditions, Mr Navalny has remained an important voice in Russian political life. With the help of his lawyers and political allies, he has published articles manifestosand regularly posts on social media.

Since Mr. Navalny’s disappearance, his allies have called on his followers to vote for a candidate other than Mr. Putin in March’s presidential elections, aiming to stem visible dissent from Mr. Putin’s policies, including the invasion of Ukraine , to reinforce.