The timing of Navalny's disappearance was “not a coincidence,” says the former minister

(CNN) — Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny did not attend two scheduled court hearings via video conference on Friday, according to a statement from his group.

Navalny's team says the popular politician has been missing for 17 days and his whereabouts are unknown.

“Alexei had to attend two tests today. Once again he was not brought to meetings. Navalny has never been hidden for so long,” Navalny's team said in a Telegram post.

Navalny's unprecedented absence from public has raised concerns for his well-being and safety.

Navalny's aides have reiterated the request for information, offering a cryptocurrency reward for complete and reliable details about his current location or status.

Asked several times last week about Navalny's absence, the Kremlin told reporters it had “no intention or ability to oversee the fate of the prisoners and the process of their stay in the institutions concerned.”

“This is not a coincidence,” says the Navalny adviser

Vladimir Milov, a former Russian deputy energy minister and now an adviser to Navalny, told CNN's Richard Quest that the timing of Navalny's disappearance was “not coincidental,” pointing to President Vladimir Putin's announcement of his intention to run for re-election in March. 2024, a move that could keep him in power until at least 2030.

“I think it's a deliberate tactic. It's not a coincidence that Navalny disappeared right at the moment when the mock presidential election was announced and Putin announced he was going to run again,” Milov said.

“Putin is really ready to show that he is going to enter another period in the Kremlin through intimidation, through repression, through pressure on society, and this is to threaten all opposition forces,” Milov added.

Before the interview, CNN contacted the Russian prison service to request information on Navalny's whereabouts.

Milov told Quest on Friday that despite efforts to trace Navalny's whereabouts, “so far there has been no response.”

Milov said formal, written requests should be sent to detention centers in Russia asking for information on Navalny's whereabouts.

“My colleagues are bombing all known detention centers in Russia to try to find Navalny across the country,” Milov said.

He added that he had received responses from some detention centers confirming that Navalny was not in those facilities.

Other facilities have yet to respond to questions, he said, adding that it is an “ongoing process.”