Alexeï Navalny's mother, Lioudmila Navalnaïa, recovered her son's body, according to an announcement made on Saturday February 24 by the entourage of the opponent who died on Friday February 16 in a Russian penal colony. “We don’t know if the authorities will interfere with the funeral that the family wants and that Alexei deserves. We will provide information as soon as it becomes available,” wrote its spokesperson Kira Yarmych on the social network X on Saturday.
Earlier in the day, in a video, Yulia Navalnaïa, the wife of the opponent who swore to continue the fight against Alexeï Navalny, had accused Vladimir Putin of having taken her husband's body hostage to force his mother to accept a secret burial.
This announcement puts an end to several days of confusion surrounding the fate of Mr. Navalny's remains, which Ms. Navalnaïa was unable to see until last Thursday.
Thursday, in a video message broadcast by the opponent's entourage, Alexei Navalny's mother accused the Russian authorities of threats against him so that a "secret funeral" could be organized. “They are blackmailing me (…). They want everything to be done secretly, without ceremony, they want to take me to the confines of a cemetery, near a fresh grave, and tell me “here lies your son”, I do not agree with that “, declared Lyoudmila Navalnaïa.
“I recorded this video because they started threatening me. Straight to the face, they told me that if I don't agree to a secret burial, they will do something with my son's body. The investigator told me openly: “Time is against you, the body is decomposing,” she also said.
“The Russians must give him back his son.”
“Last night, they secretly took me to the morgue [in Salekhard, capital of the Yamalo-Nenets autonomous district, where Mr. Navalny was incarcerated], where they showed me Alexei’s body. Investigators say they know the reasons for his death. Medical and legal documents are ready. I saw them. And I signed the death certificate,” continued Lyudmila Navalnaïa.
Russian prison authorities announced Friday, in a terse press release, that the famous activist, imprisoned for three years, had died in the penal colony where he was serving a sentence of nineteen years of detention. The 47-year-old man, whose health was weakened by poisoning and his imprisonment, would have “felt bad after a walk” and would have “lost consciousness”, they explained, assuring that everything had been done to resuscitate him and that the causes of his death were “in the process of being established.”
No details have leaked since, and Russian President Vladimir Putin has not said a word about the disappearance of this major political figure, a death which occurs one month before the presidential election scheduled for March 15 to 17, which must see the master of the Kremlin reappointed, in the absence of any opposition. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected the allegations, calling them “absolutely unfounded and insolent accusations against the head of state.”
In a press release following a videoconference summit, the G7 called on Russia on Saturday evening to “fully clarify the circumstances” surrounding the death of Alexei Navany. The leaders of the G7 (United States, Japan, Germany, France, United Kingdom, Italy, Canada) paid tribute to “the extraordinary courage” of the Russian opponent, who “sacrificed his life fighting against Kremlin corruption and for free and fair elections.”
