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Alexei Navalny is to be buried in Moscow on Friday. His team called for large numbers to come, but there is a risk of escalation. The news ticker.
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- This News ticker on Navalny’s funeral on Friday in Moscow is continually updated.
Moscow – The great hope of Russia’s opposition will be buried on Friday. Almost two weeks after the death of Alexei Navalny in the Siberian “Polar Wolf” prison camp, the Kremlin critic is to be buried in Moscow. Navalny’s team confirmed the appointment on Wednesday in a post on X. An earlier appointment was prevented by the government of President Vladimir Putin. But even in the run-up to the funeral, the Kremlin’s harassment continued.
“What a shame!” Navalny’s team reports threatening calls against undertakers
Among other things, several funeral homes refused to transport Navalny’s body to the church. “What a shame! Now the hearse drivers are refusing to take Alexei out of the morgue,” said exiled supporter Ivan Zhdanov on Thursday. According to Navalny spokeswoman Kira Jarmisch, the undertakers had previously received threatening calls from “unknown people” warning them not to take the body “somewhere.”
Navalny is scheduled to be buried on Friday at the church in honor of the Mother of God icon “Assuage my sorrow” in Moscow’s Mariin district. A funeral service for the Kremlin critic is planned for around 2 p.m. local time (12 p.m. CET). The funeral will then take place at the Borisovskoye Cemetery, about half an hour’s walk away.
Concern about escalation at Navalny’s funeral – Putin’s state apparatus is making its presence felt
Navalny’s funeral was originally planned for Thursday (February 29), Navalny’s team said. However, this appointment is said to have been prevented by the Moscow authorities. A state of the nation speech by President Putin was also scheduled for Thursday. The exile portal also reported on Thursday meduzathat the Russian state apparatus had already become active in the area around the church and the cemetery. The police are said to have installed jammers and cameras and searched passers-by, among other things.
Navalny’s team had called on all supporters of the Kremlin critic’s positions to come to the memorial service to pay their last respects to the deceased opposition figure. Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, was already worried about the safety of the participants on Wednesday. “The funeral will take place the day after tomorrow and I don’t know yet whether it will be peaceful or whether the police will arrest those who came to say goodbye to my husband,” Navalnaya said during a speech in the European Parliament.
Circumstances of Navalny’s death in the prison camp remain unclear
Navalny died on February 16 in one of Russia’s harshest penal colonies in the Arctic, where he was serving a 19-year prison sentence. According to the authorities, he died of “natural causes,” although the exact circumstances remain unclear. Navalny’s supporters and numerous Western politicians blame the Russian leadership and Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin for the death. (fd with material from afp)