Vladimir Putin has yet to comment on Alexei Navalny’s death.
Alexei Navalny’s mother was told on Saturday that Russia’s most prominent opposition leader fell from “sudden death syndrome” and his body would not be handed over to the family until an investigation is complete, his team said .
Navalny, a 47-year-old former lawyer, fell unconscious and died on Friday after a walk at the “Polar Wolf” penal colony in Hapu, about 1,900 kilometers (1,200 miles) northeast of Moscow, where he was serving a 30-year sentence. the prison service said.
Western leaders, led by U.S. President Joe Biden, paid tribute to Navalny’s courage and blamed President Vladimir Putin for the death without citing evidence. Britain said there would be consequences for Russia.
The Kremlin said the West’s response was unacceptable and “absolutely insane.” Putin has yet to comment on Navalny’s death.
On Saturday, Navalny’s 69-year-old mother Lyudmila braved Arctic temperatures of minus 30 degrees Celsius (minus 22 degrees Fahrenheit) to visit the exile colony where her son died.
Navalny’s spokesperson Kira Yarmysh told Reuters that she was officially notified of her death at 2:17 pm local time (0917 GMT) on February 16.
Ivan Zhdanov, head of the Navalny Anti-Corruption Foundation, said on social media platform Sudden Death Syndrome.”
“Sudden death syndrome” is a vague term that refers to different cardiac syndromes that lead to cardiac arrest and death.
His team said it was unclear where Navalny’s body was. His mother was told the body had been taken to the town of Salekhard near the prison, but when she arrived at the morgue it was closed.
Navalny’s body
Yamish said that when contacted by Navalny’s lawyers, the morgue said it did not have Navalny’s body.
Later, officials told them the body would not be handed over until the investigation was complete, although earlier they had been told it had found no signs of foul play.
“Currently we have no access to the body and are not sure where it is. We demand that the Russian authorities immediately hand over Alexei’s body to his family,” Yarmysh said in an interview.
An employee at Salekhard’s only morgue told Reuters that Navalny’s body had not yet arrived.
The death of former lawyer Navalny leaves Russia’s diverse opposition without its most charismatic and courageous leader, just as Putin prepares for an election that will keep the former KGB spy in power until at least 2030.
Navalny’s supporters – including in the West – see Navalny as Russia’s version of South Africa’s Nelson Mandela, who will one day be free and lead the country.
However, some Russians dismiss this view as typical wishful thinking, pointing to a poll showing that a majority of Russians disapprove of him and that Putin is more popular.
Russian authorities view Navalny and his supporters as extremists with ties to the CIA intelligence agency, which they say is seeking to destabilize Russia. Navalny has always denied accusations that he is a CIA asset.
despair and indifference
Some Russians laid flowers in honor of Navalny in Moscow and other Russian cities, although hundreds of flowers and candles were taken away in black bags overnight.
Dozens of roses and carnations stood in the soft snow in central Moscow on Saturday in front of the Memorial to Victims of Soviet Repression, which stands in the shadow of the former KGB headquarters on Lubyanka Square.
Vladimir Nikitin, 36, laid a carnation alone in front of the Solovetsky Stone, which came from the island of the same name in the White Sea where the Bolsheviks built the first “ancient Lage” forced labor camp.
“Navalny’s death is terrible: a loss of hope,” Nikitin said. “Navalny was a very serious man, a brave man, and now he is no longer with us. What he said was The truth — that’s very dangerous because some people don’t like the truth.”
Some Russians laid flowers next to Navalny’s photo at the “Wall of Sorrow” monument on the avenue named after Soviet physicist and dissident Andrei Sakharov. “We will not forget and we will not forgive,” one message read.
The protest monitoring group OVD-Info said more than 270 people have been arrested across Russia at meetings and memorial services for Navalny since news of his death was announced.
Putin’s opponents say Navalny’s death shows how dangerous Putin’s Russia has become, 32 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 ushered in a better future.
“Alexei did not die – he was murdered,” Navalny’s spokesman Yamish said. His vision will live on, she said.
“We have lost our leaders, but we have not lost our ideas and beliefs.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
