Russian police made at least 45 arrests on Friday during rallies in tribute to opponent Alexeï Navalny, whose funeral was held in Moscow, according to the specialized NGO OVD-Info, most of which took place in other cities than the capital.
“In total, OVD-Info is aware of more than 45 detentions,” the NGO said on Telegram.
Six of these people were arrested in Moscow, the other arrests having occurred in other localities such as Novosibirsk in Siberia, or in the Voronezh region.
Some of those close to Alexei Navalny, as well as several thousand of his supporters, paid a final tribute to the opponent on Friday, with the hope that his fight will not remain a dead letter.
Also read Death of Alexeï Navalny: “Putin killed the best of us”
Two weeks after his death in unclear circumstances in a penal colony in the Arctic, the deceased's parents gathered around his coffin, at the church then at the cemetery where he was buried in the Russian capital.
Without his widow, Yulia Navalnaïa, and their children, who are abroad.
The Kremlin has “nothing to say” to the family of the deceased
The death of the opponent on February 16 in the Arctic prison where he was serving a 19-year sentence for “extremism” caused great emotion among his supporters.
Alexei Navalny had been virtually silenced since his return to Russia at the beginning of 2021 following a poisoning that he said was orchestrated by President Vladimir Putin.
For many young Russians, especially in Russia's big cities, he represented the most credible alternative to the rule of the Russian president, for many the only leader they had known.
Since the start of the Russian assault in Ukraine more than two years ago, large-scale rallies to challenge the Kremlin's policies have been non-existent.
In two weeks, Vladimir Putin must be re-elected after an unopposed vote.
The master of the Kremlin has still not commented on the death of his main adversary, whose name he never mentions.
On Friday, its spokesperson Dmitri Peskov assured that the Kremlin had “nothing to say” to the family of the deceased.