2024-03-01 23:41:03
His wife Yulia did not travel to Moscow to avoid reprisals
Tens of thousands of Russians risked arrest to say goodbye today to President Vladimir Putin’s biggest critic, Alexei Navalny. Exactly 2 weeks after the news of his death in a Siberian colony, crowds of people gathered on a frosty morning in Moscow and chanted “Alexey” and “Thank you” slogans as they followed the hearse.
Navalny was buried in the Borisov Cemetery in Moscow. It is one of the oldest in the Russian capital. It was created in the 16th century. The oppositionist’s grave is a meter from the entrance and practically next to the fence.
Navalny’s parents, Lyudmila and Anatoly, were close to his coffin. Missing, however, was his wife Yulia, who is worried about traveling to Moscow because of fears of reprisals from the Kremlin. She said goodbye to him on social media.
“Bad, thank you for 26 years absolutely happiness
And for the last 3 years, happiness. For love, because he always supported us, because he made us laugh even from prison, because he always thought of me” – this is what Julia Navalnaya wrote in X minutes after the funeral.
“I don’t even know how to live without you, but I will try to make it so that you, up there, are happy and proud of me. I don’t know if I will manage, but I will try”, she added in her first comment after the service.
Navalny’s funeral was over in about 20 minutes, and in total all the ceremonies lasted about 2 hours. In the metropolitan area, the activity of mobile operators was limited, which made it difficult to distribute photos and videos on social networks. The poor connection hampered even the media trying to broadcast live footage from the venue.
The area was extremely heavily guarded
There were armed police at every meter of the 2-kilometer line of people who went to say goodbye to the opposition leader. The authorities did not give official permission for a public burial and warned that there would be consequences if demonstrators gathered. However, the event was uneventful. However, a total of 45 were reported detained in Russian cities including Moscow, Novosibirsk and Yekaterininburg.
The crowd around the church where the funeral was held kept chanting “Na-val-ni!” and “A-lek-sei!”, although there were warnings that this could be prosecuted – as support for the leader of an organization banned for extremism. They were also heard
chants “No to war” and “Russia without Putin”,
because of which every Russian can end up behind bars for at least 14 days. Shortly before he was buried, the crowd shouted, “Thank you.”
“Novaya Gazeta” reported that the crowd numbered 10,000 people, and the line reached 2 km.
Among those present on the outskirts of Moscow were Boris Nadezhdin, the anti-war candidate who was disqualified from the upcoming March presidential election, and Yevgeny Roizman, the former mayor of Yekaterinburg – also a prominent critic of Putin.
Several Western ambassadors were also spotted at the pilgrimage, including the diplomats of the US, France and Germany, Europe’s Politico reported.
The coffin Navalny’s was open
– first at the funeral in front of his relatives, and then at the funeral. Everyone present could see the body of the opposition player. Many approached him to see him with their own eyes and to be convinced of his death.
Shortly afterwards a band was placed on his head and he was covered with a white cape. The song from “Terminator 2” played after the casket was lowered into the ground.
“He thought ‘Terminator 2’ was the best movie in the whole world,” opposition spokeswoman Kira Yarmish said. Earlier, the song My Way by Frank Sinatra was played at the Borisov Cemetery in memory of a critic of Putin.
Putin’s administration said it had no comment on Navalny’s death, as he was not a political figure. “Our understanding is that there is a law and it must be enforced. Any unsanctioned gatherings will be a violation of the law, and accordingly, those participating in them will be held responsible,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Once again, one of Navalny’s close associates – Maria Pevchih, stated that he was killed. She recalled that during the last few years, Navalny was kept in extremely harsh conditions, which had a detrimental effect on his health. Regarding the events around February 15-16, however, Pevchih believes that there were specific actions and responsible persons who acted for his liquidation. “We are investigating together with Hristo Grozev, we know each of the participants by name and we will clarify what happened,” she concluded.