ALEXEI NAVALNY, among Russian President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest critics, has died in prison aged 47. 

The Federal Prison Service said in a statement that Mr Navalny, a dissident politician and anti-corruption campaigner, felt unwell after a walk today and lost consciousness. An ambulance arrived to try to rehabilitate him, but he died.

Mr Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said on social media that the politician’s team had no official confirmation of his death so far and his lawyer was travelling to Kharp, a “special regime” penal colony located within the Arctic Circle where he was held.