Navalny transferred to Vladimir region east of Moscow to serve prison term

Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has been transferred to the Vladimir region in Russia -- some 200 kilometres (124 miles) east of Moscow -- to serve a 2.5-year long term in a penal colony.

President Vladimir Putin's fiercest opponent was sentenced in early February to 2.5 years in a penal colony for breaching parole terms while in Germany recovering from a poisoning attack.

Reports said in a statement Sunday that the opposition figure was sent to a Federal Prison Service institution in the Vladimir region.

"At first, he will be in quarantine, then he will be transferred to his colony," a member of the commission, Alexei Melnikov, told the Inferfax news agency.

Navalny spent months recovering in Germany from the near fatal poisoning with the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok that he claims was ordered by Putin. The Kremlin has, however, repeatedly denied the claim. 

The 44-year-old opposition politician was arrested on his return to Moscow last month, sparking a wave of protests across the country and a brutal police crackdown.

Additionally, leaders of Western countries have condemned his detention and called for his immediate release. And the European Union has agreed to impose sanctions on four senior Russian officials over the crackdown.