Russia's Navalny says he has been put in solitary punishment cell

FILE PHOTO: Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is seen on a screen via a video link from the IK-2 corrective penal colony in Pokrov during a court hearing to consider an appeal against his prison sentence in Moscow, Russia May 24, 2022. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/File Photo

(Reuters) - Jailed Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny on Thursday said he has been transferred to a solitary punishment cell, a development he said was clearly designed to shut him up.

Navalny, the most prominent domestic critic of President Vladimir Putin and a strong opponent of the war in Ukraine, is already serving prison terms totaling 11-1/2 years for fraud, contempt of court and parole violations, all of which he rejects as trumped-up charges.