More than a thousand people gathered this morning around the Moscow church where the funeral of Russian opponent
Alexei Navalny
is being held , in the midst of a strong police operation, and with the presence of several Western ambassadors, including the chargé d'affaires. Italian Pietro Sferra Carini.
The coffin with the remains of the leader who died on February 16 in a remote prison in the Arctic was received with applause and chants of "Navalny, Navalny" by the crowd, according to videos posted on the networks by his collaborators.
The Kremlin warned against any "unauthorized" demonstrations
during the funeral held in a church in Marino, south of Moscow, where the opponent lived before being imprisoned.
"Any unauthorized demonstration will constitute a violation of the law. Therefore, those who participate in it will be held responsible in accordance with the current law," said presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
And he added that "the Kremlin has nothing to say to Navalny's family on the day of his funeral."
Among those attending the ceremony, in addition to the Italian representative Sferra Carini, were Lynne Tracy, the United States ambassador to Russia, as well as the representatives of Germany, Alexander Lambsdorff, and of France, Pierre Levy.
In a Russia where
television and official media ignored the event
, the Anti-Corruption Foundation team created by the opponent was in charge of broadcasting the funeral live.
Two members of the team covered the coverage from a studio, providing commentary on the crowd gathered outside the Moscow church where the funeral was being held.
Shortly before the start they had 130 thousand people tuned in.
A hearse carries a coffin containing the body of Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny.
Photo: Reuters
Dozens of police vehicles and some riot police trucks remained parked near the church.
Police officers wearing helmets and carrying tear gas canisters patrolled the area, including at nearby subway stations.
Human rights groups advised people attending Navalny's funeral to write down details of their lawyers who could help them if they are arrested.
And they suggested also bringing your passport and bottles of water with you.
The mobilization of numerous Navalny supporters could be annoying for Putin ahead of the presidential elections from March 15 to 17.
For this reason, Yulia Navalnaya - the widow of the Russian opponent who died on February 16 - expressed before the European Parliament her fear that the police could make arrests.
"
I don't know if it will be peaceful
or if the police will arrest those who are present," she said before the plenary session of the European Parliament, which she paid tribute to the deceased Russian opponent.
Navalny died in a remote penal colony in the Russian Arctic, and, according to his widow, Russian authorities
"abused his body and abused his mother
. "
Since the opponent's body was handed over to his mother on Saturday, the team of the once main Kremlin critic was looking for a place to offer him a "public goodbye", but they were "denied" multiple requests, according to his collaborators.
Those close to the deceased politician assured that the authorities had exerted pressure regarding the place where the burial should take place.
"Everywhere they refused to give us anything. In some places, they told us that it was prohibited," Jdanov explained in a statement posted on Telegram, criticizing the "Kremlin and (Sergei) Sobyanin," the mayor of Moscow, close to Putin.
A woman lights a candle at a makeshift memorial with flowers and candles for Navalny in front of the Russian embassy in Berlin.
Photo: AFP
The Russian president, who appeared yesterday in front of both houses of Parliament on the occasion of his annual address to the nation and made threats to the West for sending troops to Ukraine, has not reacted to the death of Navalny, who had survived in 2020 to a poisoning of which he accused Putin himself, something that the latter always denied.
The circumstances of Navalny's death in prison remain unclear.
According to the Russian prison services, he died after feeling unwell "after a walk."
However, supporters of the opposition and multiple Western leaders accused Putin of his death, some even alluding to an "assassination" ordered after three years of detention.
DP