RIGA, Latvia — Russian authorities recently handed over the body of opposition leader Alexei Navalny to his mother after a week-long struggle. This development comes after dozens of Russian celebrities, artists, activists, and journalists made video appeals to President Vladimir Putin, demanding the return of Navalny’s body to his family. More than 98,000 Russians also signed a petition organized by the legal rights group OVD-Info.
Earlier on Saturday, Navalny’s daughter, Dasha Navalnaya, joined the campaign by posting on X, formerly known as Twitter, “Give my papa’s body to grandmother.” Kira Yarmysh, Navalny’s press secretary, announced this breakthrough, although it remains uncertain whether the authorities will interfere in the funeral arrangements.
Navalny’s mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, expressed her wish to have her son flown to Moscow for a public farewell service, followed by his funeral and burial at the Troyekurovskoye cemetery. This cemetery holds the remains of many prominent Russians, including opposition figures. However, the Investigative Committee, Russia’s main federal investigating authority, pressured Lyudmila Navalnaya to agree to a small private funeral with only family members present.
Despite the uncertainties surrounding the funeral arrangements, Yarmysh expressed gratitude to the thousands of Russians who supported Navalnaya’s campaign to retrieve her son’s body. Navalny, 47, was Putin’s most formidable rival and a prominent political prisoner. He was imprisoned for advocating for a free and democratic Russia and tragically died on February 16 in the “Polar Wolf” prison, located in the Yamalo-Nenets region north of the Arctic Circle.
Following Navalny’s death, his widow, Yulia Navalnaya, accused Putin of murdering her husband and deliberately delaying the handover of his body to conceal the true cause of death. However, the death certificate issued later in the week listed Navalny’s cause of death as “natural causes.” There were concerns that Russian officials would bury Navalny’s body in the remote northern prison colony, denying his family and supporters the right to a proper funeral and farewell ceremony.
Lyudmila Navalnaya’s battle with the Investigative Committee officials to retrieve her son’s body turned into a Kafkaesque ordeal. Initially, she and her lawyers were barred from entering the morgue and provided no information about the location of Navalny’s body. One prison official even claimed that Navalny had died of “sudden death syndrome.”
Days later, when the official cause of death was declared as “natural causes,” Lyudmila Navalnaya was shown the body late at night, but with no lawyers present. The officials pressured her to agree to a small private funeral, using the threat of body decomposition as leverage. Lyudmila released a video stating that officials were blackmailing her and setting conditions for her son’s burial, calling the actions illegal.
Facing a three-hour ultimatum, she refused to agree to a private burial, risking the burial of Navalny without her consent in the prison colony. This standoff showcased the extent of damage the public spectacle was inflicting on the Kremlin. Yulia Navalnaya, wearing black, recorded a somber video message on Saturday, criticizing Putin’s religious piety and accusing him of both the “murder” of her husband and withholding the body for burial.
The decision to give Lyudmila Navalnaya her son’s body marked a rare triumph for an individual confronting Russian authority. However, it also underscored the extent to which the high-profile dispute had tarnished the image of the Kremlin. Yulia Navalnaya claimed that the order to “break” her mother-in-law came directly from Putin, indicating the president’s involvement in the situation.
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The struggle for Navalny’s body highlights the ongoing tension between the Russian government and the opposition movement. It indicates the lengths to which the Kremlin is