Russia: Alexeï Navalny’s funeral will take place on Friday in Moscow, the opponent’s widow is worried

The funeral of Russian opponent Alexeï Navalny, who died on February 16 in prison, will take place on Friday at 2 p.m. local time (11 a.m. GMT) in Moscow, his team announced Wednesday on social networks. “The funeral service for Alexei will be held at the Church of the icon of Our Lady +”Relieve my grief” in Marino on March 1 at 2 p.m. The funeral will take place at the Borisovsky cemetery” in the southeast of the capital , indicated his team on Telegram. According to one of the opponent’s close collaborators, Ivan Zhdanov, the burial will take place at 4 p.m. local time, nearly 20 kilometers from the red walls of the Kremlin.

Since the handover of the opponent’s body to his mother last Saturday, the team of the former number one detractor of the Kremlin had been looking for a place for a “public farewell” but was “refused” any request, the authorities putting pressure according to them at the burial grounds. Because these funerals could mobilize in numbers the supporters of the former number one opponent of Vladimir Putin and thus be embarrassing for the master of the Kremlin, who is preparing for a new coronation at the end of an unopposed presidential election scheduled for 15 to March 17.

Circumstances of Navalny’s death still unclear

“Everywhere, they refused to give us anything. In some places, they told us that it was forbidden,” explained Ivan Zhdanov in a statement on Telegram, castigating “the Kremlin and (Serguei) Sobyanin”, the mayor of Moscow and close to Vladimir Putin. The Russian president, who is due to speak to the Federal Assembly on Thursday for his annual address to the Nation, has still not reacted to the death of his main detractor, who narrowly survived a poisoning in 2020 including he was already accusing the master of the Kremlin, despite his denials.

The circumstances of Alexeï Navalny’s death on February 16 in prison, which shocked the world, remain unclear at this stage. According to the Russian penitentiary service, he died following a sudden malaise “after a walk”. The opponent’s supporters, and many Western leaders, have accused Vladimir Putin of his death, some calling it “murder”, after three years of detention.

Yulia Navalnaïa’s fears

The police force risks being particularly important, worries the widow of the opponent Yulia Navalnaïa, very moved. She announced the funeral in a speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday. “I don’t know yet if they will be peaceful or if the police will arrest those who came to say goodbye to my husband. You are not dealing with a politician, but with a bloodthirsty monster. And it’s good to repeat that : Putin is the leader of an organized criminal gang. The public assassination of my husband once again showed everyone that Putin is capable of anything and that you cannot negotiate with him,” he said. -she alerted.

Yet Yulia Nalvalnaïa affirms it again. She will do everything possible to continue her late husband’s fight. “The devil will fall, and a better future will come,” she declared to the applause of the deputies.