Death of the opposition activist
Kremlin rejects EU demand for Navalny investigation
Russia rejected Yulia Navalnaya’s allegations that Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin killed her husband as “unfounded and outrageous.” photo
© Yves Herman/Reuters Pool via AP/dpa
The widow of Kremlin opponent Navalny, who was killed in custody, accuses President Putin of killing her husband. Now the Kremlin is responding and also defending the arrest of mourners.
The Kremlin has an international investigation demanded by the EU into the death of the imprisoned opposition figure Alexei Navalny rejected. “We do not accept such demands at all,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to Russian news agencies.
Russia sees this as interference in its internal affairs. The EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell had called for such an investigation into the body, which was kept under lock and key in Russia for another two weeks.
Peskov also dismissed Yulia Navalnaya’s allegations that Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin killed her husband as “unfounded and outrageous.” In a video message on Monday, the 47-year-old blamed Putin for Navalny’s death in the prison camp north of the Arctic Circle and announced that she would continue her husband’s fight against the Kremlin chief’s system.
Brutal actions by security forces
Peskov said that neither he nor Putin had watched the video message. Given that “Julia Navalnaya is currently widowed,” he wanted to hold back on comments. At the same time, the Kremlin spokesman defended the brutal actions of security forces against Russians who laid flowers and lit candles in many cities across the country in memory of the dead Putin opponent. Peskov said the uniformed officers had fulfilled their duties in accordance with the law.
Hundreds of people have been arrested in recent days because they publicly commemorated the dead. In urgent proceedings, courts have imposed arrest or fines. Nevertheless, many Russians continued to publicly express their sadness. Navalny’s team criticized the fact that people in Russia are now being arrested for laying flowers.
According to Russian authorities, Navalny, who was physically weakened after many days in repeated solitary confinement, collapsed on Friday while walking in the prison camp in freezing temperatures. According to the prison service, attempts at resuscitation were unsuccessful. Navalny was 47 years old at the time of death. Human rights activists accuse the Russian power apparatus of murder. Putin’s critics have been repeatedly murdered in Russia in recent years.