LAST UPDATE | 28 Feb 2024

THE FUNERAL OF Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died earlier this month in a remote Arctic penal colony, will take place on Friday in Moscow, his spokesperson has said.

His funeral will be held at a church in Moscow’s south-east Maryino district on Friday afternoon, Kira Yarmysh said. The burial will take place at a nearby cemetery.

Navalny died in mid-February in one of Russia’s harshest penal facilities.

Russian authorities said the cause of his death at age 47 is still unknown, and the results of any investigation are likely to be questioned abroad.

Many Western leaders have already said they hold Russian President Vladimir Putin responsible for his death.

Shortly after the announcement of the funeral plans, Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, addressed European legislators in Strasbourg.

Speaking at the European Parliament, she confirmed that her husband would be buried on Friday and expressed fears that the police might interfere.

“I’m not sure yet whether it will be peaceful or whether police will arrest those who have come to say goodbye to my husband,” she said.

At some points appearing tearful amid applause but largely resolute, Navalnaya said her husband’s death “showed everyone that Putin is capable of anything, and that you cannot negotiate with him”.

She appealed to the European Parliament to be “innovative” in its approach to the Russian President and those close to him.

“You cannot hurt Putin with another resolution or another set of sanctions,” she said, urging legislators instead to “apply the methods of fighting organized crime, not political competition”.

Yulia Navalnaya addressing the European Union's parliament in Strasbourg this morning. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Yarmysh spoke of the difficulties his team encountered in trying to find a site for a “farewell event” for Navalny.

Writing on X, she said most venues said they were fully booked, with some “refusing when we mention the surname Navalny”, and one disclosing that “funeral agencies were forbidden to work with us”.

Ivan Zhdanov, the director of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, said the funeral was initially planned for Thursday – the day of Mr Putin’s annual address to Russia’s Federal Assembly – but no venue would agree to hold it on that day.

Zhdanov wrote on Telegram: “The real reason is clear. The Kremlin understands that nobody will need Putin and his message on the day we say farewell to Alexei.”

In a video address on 19 February, Navalnaya accused President Vladimir Putin of killing her husband and vowed to continue his work.

“Vladimir Putin killed my husband Alexei Navalny,” she said in a video address on social media. 

“Alexei died in a prison colony after three years of torment and torture,” she said.

“I will continue the work of Alexei Navalny. I will continue to fight for the freedom of our country,”  Navalnaya said. “And I call on you to stand by me.”

“Putin took from me the most valuable thing that I had, the closest and most loved person. But Putin also took Navalny from you,” the 47-year-old said.

Navalnaya stood by her husband as he galvanised mass protests in Russia, flying him out of the country when he was poisoned before defiantly returning to Moscow with him in 2021, knowing he would be jailed.

The announcement she will replace Navalny is a momentous and unpredictable turn for Russia’s exiled and beleaguered opposition, which has been left leaderless after Navalny’s death.

It comes just one month ahead of a presidential election in Russia, with Putin running with no real challengers.

Includes reporting by Press Association