Navalny's Bizarre Requests from Russian Jail

Alexei Navalny, a Russian opposition leader, has shared letters showing how he has made bizarre requests to prison authorities, including a kangaroo, a beetle, a balalaika, and a kimono. The requests were turned down by the maximum security IK-6 penal colony at Melekhovo. Navalny is serving combined sentences of 11-1/2 years for fraud and contempt of court on charges that he says were trumped up to silence him. The correspondence also reveals the conditions of the Russian prison system and gives a satirical insight into the sometimes absurd world of Russian bureaucracy.