Photos: Thousands attend Navalny funeral as Kremlin warns against protests

A woman holds a portrait of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny and a book titled A Saint Against the Reich as people gather outside the Church of the Icon of Our Lady Quench My Sorrows for his in Moscow, Russia, on March 1, 2024. [AP Photo]

Under a heavy police presence, thousands of people bade farewell to Alexey Navalny in Moscow after his still unexplained death two weeks ago in an Arctic penal colony.

The funeral on Friday of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest critic followed a battle with authorities over the release of his body.

Navalny’s supporters said several churches in Moscow refused to hold a service for the man who crusaded against official corruption. Many Western leaders blamed his death on the Russian president, an accusation the Kremlin rejects.

Navalny’s team eventually got permission from the Church of the Icon of Our Lady Quench My Sorrows, which was encircled by crowd-control barriers on Friday. Hours before the funeral started, hundreds of people waited to enter under the watch of police.

Western diplomats were spotted in the long line along with presidential hopefuls Boris Nadezhdin and Yekaterina Duntsova. Both wanted to run against Putin in this month’s presidential election and oppose his war in Ukraine. Neither was allowed on the ballot.

After the hearse arrived at the church, the coffin was taken out of the vehicle as the crowd applauded and chanted: “Navalny! Navalny!” Some also shouted: “You weren’t afraid. Neither are we!”

A photo from inside the church showed an open coffin with Navalny’s body covered with red and white flowers and his mother sitting beside it holding a candle. Navalny’s father was also present, but it wasn’t clear who else in his family attended.

His widow, Yulia Navalnaya, is outside Russia and did not attend the funeral. Their daughter is a student at Stanford University in California, and the whereabouts of their son are unknown.

The politician’s closest associates have all left Russia under pressure and watched the funeral, footage of which was streamed live on his YouTube channel, from abroad.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov urged those gathering in Moscow and other places not to break the law, saying any “unauthorised gatherings” are violations.

A burial followed at the nearby Borisovskoye Cemetery, where police also showed up in force. Crowds from the church marched there after the funeral ended, chanting: “No to war” and “Love is more powerful than fear.”

Before the funeral, the morgue where Navalny's body was held delayed its release, according to Ivan Zhdanov, Navalny's close ally and director of his Anti-Corruption Foundation. [AFP]

Workers carry Navalny's coffin into the Church of the Icon of Our Lady Quench My Sorrows in southeastern Moscow's Maryino District, where Navalny once lived. [AP Photo]

Authorities originally said they couldn't turn over Navalny's body because they needed to conduct post-mortem tests. His mother made a video appeal to Putin to release it, so she could bury her son with dignity. [AFP]

At least one funeral director said he had been “forbidden” to work with Navalny’s supporters, his spokesperson Kira Yarmysh said on social media. Navalny's team also struggled to find a hearse. [AFP]

Riot police officers guard the area near the Church of the Icon of Our Lady Quench My Sorrows. Navalny's mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, said authorities had held back the release of her son's body as they demanded she hold a private funeral. [AP Photo]

Russian authorities still haven’t announced the cause of death for Navalny, who died at the age of 47 on February 16, 2024, in an Arctic penal colony. [AFP]

Navalny had been jailed since January 2021 when he returned to Moscow to face certain arrest after recuperating in Germany from nerve agent poisoning he blamed on the Kremlin. [Reuters]

His Foundation for Fighting Corruption and his regional offices were designated as “extremist organisations” by the Russian government in 2021. [Reuters]

Mourners line up to pay their respects to Navalny at his funeral in Moscow. [AP Photo]