Russian court rejects Navalny's complaints over prison conditions

A Russian court has rejected complaints by jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny about his prison conditions.

Appearing in front of a judge via video link, Navalny claimed that he was being held illegally, and asked that communication with his wife be maintained.

"Please tell Yulia that for some reason letters are not coming from her again and that I am passing her all sorts of greetings to her and the children, and if she doesn't receive an answer from me... I can't even write to her myself."

The hearing took place amid reports on the deterioration of Navalny's heath - and calls from his wife and allies urging prison staff to provide basic medicines.

The 46-year-old is serving a nine-year sentence on fraud charges in a maximum security prison colony 250 kilometres east of Moscow.

Navalny, his allies and Western governments and rights groups say he was the victim of trumped-up charges designed to silence him.

The Kremlin critic was arrested in Russia in January 2021 upon returning from Germany, where he had been recuperating from nerve-agent poisoning he has blamed on Moscow.

Watch the video in the player above.