Europe

Navalny’s mother brings flowers to his grave a day after thousands attend funeral in Moscow

‘Spontaneous memorials’ to the late Russian opposition leader are reportedly destroyed in several Russian cities

Lyudmila Navalnaya (L), mother of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, mourns at her son's grave at Moscow's Borisovskoye cemetery. Photograph: EPA

Allan Glen
Luke Jacobs
Sat Mar 2 2024 - 13:14

The mother and mother-in-law of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny were among mourners who brought flowers to his grave in Moscow on Saturday, a day after thousands attended his funeral in the city.

Police kept a heavy presence at the cemetery but the situation was calm, Russian independent TV channel Dozhd (Rain) reported.

“The police let those wishing to bid farewell to the politician pass through and do not rush anyone,” the outlet wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

Dozhd also reported that “spontaneous memorials” to Mr Navalny had been destroyed in several Russian cities. Flowers were removed in cities including St Petersburg and Voronezh, it said.

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On Friday, thousands of Russians gathered outside a Moscow church for Mr Navalny’s funeral in defiance of heavy police presence and Kremlin warnings, in what became the largest show of public dissent since President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Mourners on Friday chanted “Putin is a murderer”, “Russia without Putin” and “No to war”, despite the Kremlin saying that any gathering would be cracked down on, according to people who attended and footage on social media.

For many years Russia’s most prominent Putin critic, Mr Navalny died last month in a remote Arctic prison colony at the age of 47. His widow and his exiled team have accused Mr Putin of ordering his murder to scupper his release in a prisoner exchange.

The Kremlin has dismissed the allegations, while investigators in charge of the inquest claimed Mr Navalny died of natural causes. – Agencies

Hundreds of people have gathered in Moscow, Russia to pay their respects to Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, who died in an Artic penal colony on February 16th.

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