Imprisoned Kremlin critic Navalny moved, alarming his allies

MOSCOW (AP) — Allies of imprisoned opposition politician Alexei Navalny sounded the alarm when they discovered he was no longer in the prison where he had been serving his time and there was no word on his whereabouts. Late in the day, the chairman of a prison monitoring commission said Navalny had been transferred to a maximum-security prison located nearby. Prison transfers in Russia sometimes take days and are shrouded in secrecy. Navalny is the most determined political foe of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the lack of information about his whereabouts alarmed his allies. His spokeswoman said his close associates had not been able to independently confirm the transfer.