Orthodox tradition
Parents and supporters visit Navalny’s grave
March 26, 2024, 2:11 p.m
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Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny died in custody 40 days ago. According to Orthodox belief, the soul now leaves the earth. On this occasion, his parents, among others, gather in front of the grave in Moscow. His widow also shares a memorial song by well-known musicians.
40 days after the death of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny in a Russian prison camp in the Arctic Circle, family members and supporters have once again paid their last respects to him. At Moscow’s Borisovsky Cemetery, Navalny’s parents Lyudmila and Anatoly, among others, laid flowers and wreaths on their son’s grave.
According to the belief of Orthodox Christians, the soul of a deceased person leaves the earth on the 40th day after his or her death. Navalny’s widow Yulia Navalnaya published a ten-minute song in online media that was written by well-known Russian musicians and artists in memory of the Kremlin critic. “Today marks 40 days since the murder of Alexei,” wrote Navalnaya, who took up the legacy of the opposition politician from exile.
According to the Russian authorities, Navalny, who was imprisoned in a Russian penal camp in the Arctic, died on February 16. The 47-year-old served a 19-year prison sentence there. His widow accuses Russian President Vladimir Putin of killing her husband.
There had already been a poison attack on the opposition politician in 2021. With Navalny’s death, the Russian opposition has been deprived of one of its most prominent faces. The Kremlin has intensified its crackdown on critics, especially since the start of Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine in 2022.