As of: February 27, 2024, 3:57 p.m
By: Bettina Menzel
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People in Amsterdam lay flowers in memory of the opposition activist Alexei Navalny.
In Russia there were numerous arrests at memorial events for the late politician.
© IMAGO/Paulo Amorim / VWPics
Navalny's team wants a public memorial service for the Kremlin critic - this would be inconvenient for Putin so close to the elections.
As expected, there are problems when it comes to finding a venue.
Moscow – The hope of the Russian opposition, Alexei Navalny, died around a week and a half ago in a Russian prison camp north of the Arctic Circle.
The exact circumstances of death are not clear.
Only after days of delay did the Russian authorities hand over the body to the mother of the prominent Kremlin critic.
Navalny's team is now planning a public memorial service - but the hurdles are high.
Opposition members fight to say goodbye: “Forbidden to work with Navalny’s team”
Russia did not allow its citizens even a small moment of mourning.
After Navalny's death became known, spontaneous memorial events took place across the country.
In the city center of Moscow, for example, despite a large police presence, people lined up to lay flowers for the Kremlin critic at a memorial site for victims of political repression.
There were also similar images in St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and Nizhny Novgorod.
At least a hundred people were arrested at the memorial events, the civil rights organization Ovd-Info reported.
Russian President Vladimir Putin himself apparently fears the dead Navalny.
A funeral service that could trigger larger protests against Putin would likely be extremely inconvenient for the Kremlin leader before the presidential election in mid-March.
That's exactly what his team is now planning.
“Since yesterday we have been looking for a room where we can say goodbye to Alexey.
We called most private and public funeral homes, commercial businesses and funeral halls,” wrote Navalny’s former press spokeswoman Kira Yarmysch on Tuesday (February 27) on the X platform (formerly Twitter).
The appointment is planned for the end of the working week.
However, this is difficult, the opposition member adds in another article.
“Some of them say the place is fully booked.
Some refuse when we mention the surname 'Navalny,'" Yarmysch continued.
Elsewhere it was said that funeral homes were banned from working with Navalny's team.
“After a day of searching, we still haven’t found the farewell hall,” is their preliminary conclusion.
Anyone who knows a suitable location should contact the team, anti-corruption activist and head of Navalny's anti-corruption fund, Maria Pevchikh, also called for help.
Kremlin fears public funeral: “Putin wants to prevent that”
The Kremlin critic's mother said she refused a request from investigators to agree to a secret funeral and publicly accused the authorities of blackmail.
The Kremlin denied this.
It is unclear whether Navalny's supporters will manage to organize such a memorial service.
Navalny's team is apparently aware of this.
“Putin wants to prevent that.
“Putin doesn’t want these pictures,” said Maria Pevchikh in a video message.
The Russian authorities would greatly fear such an event.
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Even the dead Navalny poses a great danger to the Kremlin chief, the anti-corruption activist continued.
Because you can't “arrest people in the cemetery,” it is difficult to convey such images to the Russian public.
“Bring the funeral to the streets,” suggested one user on the X platform.
If all of Russia is afraid to work with Navalny's team, the funeral service should take place on the street near the Kremlin, the suggestion continued.
Navalny's team announced on Monday that the Kremlin opponent would soon be swapped for the Tiergarten murderer.
Meanwhile, the suppression of critics and dissenters in Russia continues.
Oleg Orlov, who once co-headed the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Memorial organization, sharply criticized Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.
Now he has to spend two and a half years in prison.