The mother of recently deceased political rival and critic of Putin, Alexie Navalny, has been told that she must agree to a “secret” burial within three hours.
This is according to a recent report by Mr Navalny’s spokeswoman, who also stated that if his mother did not agree to these terms he would be buried in the Arctic Circle penal colony where he was imprisoned.
Alexie Navalny’s mother, Lyudmila, also stated that she was forced by Russian officials to sign the death certificate saying that the reason for his death was natural causes.
However the widow of Navalny, Yulia, has come out on record to state that Alexie was killed as a direct result from orders coming from Vladimir Putin, and not natural causes.When asked to comment on these accusations, a spokesperson for the Kremlin denied the allegations, and then went on to call the coverage of Mr Navalny's death by Western media “hysterical”.
Alexie died on the 16th of February, and visitors such as Navalny’s mother and widow were denied access to see the body until nearly a week after his death.
Prison officials stated that Navalny died as a consequence of falling ill after one of his “walks” within the prison.
Mr Navalny’s team has so far offered prison officers who worked in the Arctic Circle penal colony $22,000 as a reward, as well as help in leaving Russia in exchange for any information that would help them find out more about Alexie’s death.
A spokeswoman for Mr Navalny said that Alexie’s mother declined to negotiate with Russian officials as they were “not authorised to decide how and where her son should be buried”.
His mother has also demanded that her son's funeral be conducted in compliance with the law, as Russian law states that investigators are required to give the body to the family within two days of making a ruling on the cause of death.
As the cause of death was announced on Thursday the 22nd of February, by law they must hand over the remains by this Saturday, the 24th.
On Thursday the 22nd, Alexei Navaly’s daughter and widow met with President Biden in San Francisco, and the White House released a statement saying “The president expressed his admiration for Alexei Navalny's extraordinary courage and his legacy of fighting against corruption and for a free and democratic Russia”.
This alleged murder by the Russian state has not been without consequences, as earlier today, the 23rd of February, the U.S announced a brand new round of over 500 sanctions against Russia.
These sanctions include cracking down on military and financial institutions, sanctioning officials involved in the imprisoning of Mr Navalny, and suppressing the main Russian card payment system. The E.U has also joined in adding further sanctions upon Moscow, limiting access to military technology.
This is not the first high profile alleged murder attempt on a political rival and critic of Putin. In August of 2020, the former opposition leader was found poisoned in the U.K by Novichok nerve agent, and an international investigation found that a team of Russian agents from the Russian secret service were responsible for the attack.
He was then airlifted to Germany, where he recovered successfully in hospital, before returning to Russia in January of 2021 and being imprisoned.
As Alexie Navalny was the most vocal and popular critic of Vladimir Putin in recent years, many have stated that the news of his death has not been a total shock.
Attempts at commemorating Mr Navalny's death have been repressed by the Kremlin, with police authorities clearing out protests supporting Navalny by force.
Edited by Chloe Mansola
Image "Alexey Navalny" by Mitya Aleshkovsky is licenced under CC BY 4.0 DEED
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