Lyudmila Navalnaya, the mother of Alexey Navalny, a prominent Russian opposition figure who recently died in a Siberian penal colony, revealed that she had finally seen her son’s body after being denied access for days. She stated that pressure was being exerted on her to agree to a secret funeral.
Navalnaya, along with Navalny’s wife, Yulia, firmly believes that Russian President Vladimir Putin is responsible for her husband’s death and urged the media not to be swayed by the Russian government’s narrative.
Navalnaya shared her ordeal in a video posted on her son’s YouTube channel, expressing how she was being blackmailed and threatened into accepting a covert burial. She recounted being told by an investigator that time was against her as the corpse was decomposing, pushing her to make a quick decision.
Navalny’s associates, including Ivan Zhdanov from the Anti-Corruption Foundation, revealed that Russian authorities had imposed stringent conditions for the release of Navalny’s body and the organization of his funeral.
These conditions included keeping the funeral private to prevent large gatherings and transporting the body to Moscow on a special plane.
Despite the pressure, Navalnaya eventually agreed to hold the funeral at Khovanskoye cemetery in Moscow, although details about the farewell hall remained unresolved.
The Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stated he hadn’t seen Navalnaya’s comments regarding the situation, emphasizing that they were dealing with other significant issues.
Navalny’s death, announced on February 16, drew international condemnation, with many Western leaders attributing blame to Putin. The Kremlin, however, insisted that an investigation was ongoing and dismissed accusations of foul play.
Navalny’s demise occurred amidst his ongoing struggle against the Russian government, marked by his return to Russia from Germany, where he was treated for poisoning, and subsequent imprisonment on charges he denounced as politically motivated.
