The Daily Telegraph - Saturday
Authorities tried to humiliate the memory of Russians chanting ‘Putin is a killer’ said more
As the slain opposition leader was given a hurried funeral, mourners defied threats to pay their respects
THOUSANDS of Russian mourners chanted “No to war” and “Putin is a killer” as opposition leader Alexei Navalny was buried in a hurried funeral yesterday on the outskirts of Moscow.
Two weeks after Vladimir Putin’s greatest challenge to power died in murky circumstances at a penal colony above the Arctic circle, his family were finally permitted to lay him to rest in a carefully controlled service and burial.
Mr Navalny’s mother spent days in the arctic trying to get her son’s body as officials were pressing her into agreeing to a secret burial at a remote location.
After much public wrangling, Navalny’s body was finally delivered in the back of a black Mercedes van after alleged pressure on funeral directors to not provide a hearse. It may have been a final attempt at humiliation, but the funeral turned into something of a final rally, with ant-Putin chants and makeshift memorials laid in the snow.
With all forms of dissent outlawed in Russia, police had issued warnings against “unauthorised gathering” in an apparent attempt to discourage supporters of the man who has led Russia’s pro-democracy movement for over a decade.
Defying the threats, tens of thousands flocked to a remote working-class Moscow neighbourhood where the 47-yearold politician lived most of his life. By noon, flower shops in the area were reportedly out of stock.
Many of the mourners were wary of talking to reporters or identifying them
‘Alexei not only gave his life fighting for something... he gave his life fighting for us’
selves in light of Russia’s draconian laws against dissent. Those who did talk spoke about how much Mr Navalny’s work meant for them. “It’s a huge loss,” Svetlana Petrova told the Assoiated Press. “I’m offering my deep condolences to his mother, his wife and children because not everyone can bear what they had to bear.”
Navalny’s supporters had also travelled from further afield to say their goodbyes.
“For everyone who is here, those who can’t be here and those who were too afraid to come, Alexei was the person who not only gave his life fighting for something – he gave his life fighting for us,” Nadezhda Ivanova, who travelled from Russia’s westernmost city of Kaliningrad, said. “This man is a hero for our country. We will not forget him and we will not forget what [the government] did to him.”
Asked what he would like to say to Mr Navalny’s relatives shortly before the funeral, Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman, told Russian reporters he had “Nothing” to say to the politician’s family that named Putin directly responsible for his death.
Political rallies in Russia have been banned and stopped entirely following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the gathering of mourners looked like the very last that Mr Navalny, who always attracted crowds of supporters, was able to organise.
The sombre gathering outside the church in Maryino, where many struggled to hold back tears, soon erupted into chants of Mr Navalny’s name and “No to war”.
The church service, which was supposed to be open to the public, was cut unexpectedly short, reportedly under pressure from authorities.
Outside, a group of Orthodox believers sang church hymns.
As church bells chimed to mark the end of the service, the casket was swiftly
‘I don’t know how to live without you but I will try to make sure you are proud of me’
taken away. Some mourners were able to breach the police cordons and reach the gate to hug Mr Navalny’s mother. Others said to her: “Thank you for your son!”
Despite official warnings, tens of thousand people thronged the wide streets of Maryino and marched in frigid weather for half an hour to the other side of the Moskva river to the Borisovskoye cemetery.
Numerous police squads were on standby and did not interfere.
Neither Mr Navalny’s wife, two children or brother, who all live in exile abroad, attended the funeral, fearing an immediate arrest.
To mark their presence at the funeral, the family ordered a wreath of white carnations with a ribbon saying: “To our sweet, darling and enterally loved husband and father.”
Yulia Navalnaya, the politician’s widow who last month vowed to keep up Mr Navalny’s work, in a message on Insta