The mother of Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny, who died in a Russian prison camp, has been given access to his body after days of waiting. Lyudmila Navalnaya said in a video that she was allowed to see her son’s body in the morgue but was not given it.
The 47-year-old died in the prison camp on Friday last week. Since then, the mother had been looking for the body in the Arctic Circle region. In the video, she again demanded that the body be handed over to her so that she could bury it.
Navalnaya accused the power apparatus of blackmailing her and wanting to secretly bury her son. “They are setting conditions as to where, when and how I should bury Alexei. That is against the law,” she said. The investigators threatened to do something with the body if she did not agree to a secret burial. That’s why she turned to the public because relatives, but also supporters, should have the opportunity to say goodbye to Navalny.
Navalny’s mother also said that she had been informed of the completion of the medical examination, including the cause of death. But she didn’t name them. Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Jarmysch wrote on the online platform In contrast, Navalny’s wife Yulia, his team and human rights activists accuse Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin of having the opposition figure, who barely survived a poison attack in 2020, murdered.
Navalny’s mother said she spent 24 hours alone with investigators and the detective. On Wednesday evening she was admitted to the morgue in the city of Salekhard in northern Russia. Lyudmila Navalnaya did not comment on the condition of her son’s body.
Biden meets Navalny’s wife and daughter
US President Joe Biden met with Navalny’s wife and daughter in California. On Thursday, Biden published pictures of the meeting with Yulia Navalnaya and 23-year-old daughter Darja on the X platform. One of the pictures shows the three talking to each other. In the other picture, the US President hugs Navalny’s wife. Biden wrote that he met the two to express his condolences for their difficult loss. Navalny’s legacy will live on through the two of them and the “countless people across Russia who are fighting for democracy and human rights.”
The White House said Biden also expressed admiration for Navalny’s “extraordinary courage” at the meeting. The USA wants to announce new sanctions against Russia on Friday in response to the death of the Russian opposition politician and to the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine that has been going on for two years.
Navalny’s wife Julia published a picture of her with their grieving 23-year-old daughter Darja on Thursday. “My sweet little girl. I flew to you to hug and support you, but you sit there and support me,” Yulia Navalnaya wrote in a post published on Instagram. “You are so strong, so brave and steadfast. We can handle anything, my heart. How good that you are by my side. I love you.” In addition to Darja, Navalny and his wife also have a 15-year-old son.
In the past, Darya Navalnaya had repeatedly made political demands for the release of her imprisoned father and had also given speeches in honor of him at award ceremonies. She studies at Stanford University in the USA.
Navalny’s widow did not immediately travel to see the children on Friday, but initially blamed Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin for her husband’s fate in front of the world at the Munich Security Conference. On Monday she was a guest in Brussels at the meeting of the EU foreign ministers and also published a video with a declaration of war on Putin. She wants to continue her husband’s work. Alexei Navalny had denounced corruption in the Russian power apparatus and publicly described Putin as a murderer.