Thousands of supporters defy Putin to honour opposition leader Alexei Navalny

The funeral of dissident Alexei Navalny in Moscow drew unexpectedly large crowds in show of defiance against Vladimir Putin.

Russian President Vladimir Putin fiercest critic was led to rest to the strains of a distinctly non-funereal song on Friday, as brave protesters shouted “Russia without Putin,” despite the very real risk of arrest.

The funeral of Opposition leader Alexei Navalny was held on Friday in Moscow.

The Kremlin has been accused of Mr Navalny’s death who was being held in an Arctic prison when he died on February 16.

The Russian Government has furiously denied the accusation.

Supporters of Mr Navalny came out in droves to pay their final respects.

A sombre photo taken inside the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God Soothe My Sorrows, in Russia’s capital, showed the 47-year-old politician’s body resting in a coffin covered in red and white roses, with candles burning around him.

Anatoly Navalny (2L) and Lyudmila Navalnaya (3L) sit by the body of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny during the funeral service at the Mother of God Quench My Sorrows church in Moscow's district of Maryino on March 1, 2024. (Photo by AFP)

His parents, Lyudmila Navalnya and Anatoly Navalny, with their faces etched in grief, could be seen seated next to their dead son, surrounded by other relatives, reported the New York Post.

A hearse carrying his body then arrived at a Moscow cemetery following a brief funeral service — with Mr Navalny’s allies claiming the presiding Russian Orthodox priest had been pressured to wrap as quickly as possible.

The body of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is seen during the funeral service at the Mother of God Quench My Sorrows church in Moscow's district of Maryino on March 1, 2024. (Photo by AFP)

Terminator

As Mr Navalny set out on his final journey to the Borisovskoye cemetery, thousands of people lined the streets along the route chanting, “We will not forget,” “Russia without Putin,” and “Russia will be free”.

But in a final dig at authorities, Mr Navalny was lowered into the ground to two surprising songs.

The first was Frank Sinatra’s My Way. The second was an orchestral rendition of the theme to Arnold Schwarzenegger a film Terminator 2.

“Navalny thought the Terminator 2 was the best film in the whole world,” his spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said on social media.

The smash hit 1991 film concerns the efforts of the “Resistance” to save mankind.

Hundreds of thousands more watched the proceedings as they were streamed live on YouTube.

Police in riot gear had been sent to the area around the service and snipers were positioned on the Russian capital’s rooftops as a precaution.

His supporters said several churches in Moscow refused to hold the service before Mr Navalny’s team got permission from one in the capital’s Maryino district, where he once lived before his 2020 poisoning, treatment in Germany and subsequent arrest on his return to Russia.

Hours before the funeral was set to start, hundreds waited for outside the church under the watch of police who deployed in big numbers.

Mourners react as the hearse carrying the coffin of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny leaves the Mother of God Quench My Sorrows church towards the Borisovo cemetery for Navalny's burial, in Moscow's district of Maryino on March 1, 2024. (Photo by Alexander NEMENOV / AFP)

Mourners attend a funeral ceremony for late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny at the Borisovo cemetery in Moscow's district of Maryino on March 1, 2024. (Photo by Olga MALTSEVA / AFP)

A burial was to follow at the nearby cemetery, where police also showed up in force.

Mr Navalny’s mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, spent eight days trying to get authorities to release the body following his death at Penal Colony No. 3 in the town of Kharp, in the Yamalo-Nenets region about 2000km northeast of Moscow.

Even on Friday itself, the morgue where the body was being held delayed its release, according to Ivan Zhdanov, Mr Navalny’s close ally and director of his Anti-Corruption Foundation.

But eventually he confirmed that a hearse carrying the body had set out for the church.

Authorities originally said they couldn’t turn over the body because they needed to conduct post-mortem tests.

Lyudmila Navalnaya (R) and Anatoly Navalny, parents of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, enter the Mother of God Quench My Sorrows church to attend his funeral service, in Moscow's district of Maryino on March 1, 2024. (Photo by STRINGER / AFP)

The body of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is seen during a funeral ceremony at the Borisovo cemetery in Moscow's district of Maryino on March 1, 2024. (Photo by Olga MALTSEVA / AFP)

Ms Navalnaya, 69, made a video appeal to Putin to release it so she could bury her son with dignity.

Once it was released, at least one funeral director said he had been “forbidden” to work with Mr Navalny’s supporters, his spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said on social media.

They also struggled to find a hearse.

“Unknown people are calling up people and threatening them not to take Alexei’s body anywhere,” Ms Yarmysh said Thursday.

Russian authorities still haven’t announced the cause of death for Mr Navalny, 47, who crusaded against official corruption and organised big protests as Putin’s fiercest political foe.

Many Western leaders blamed the death on the Russian leader, an accusation the Kremlin angrily rejected.

Police walk outside the Mother of God Quench My Sorrows church after a funeral service for late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, in Moscow's district of Maryino on March 1, 2024. (Photo by Alexander NEMENOV / AFP)

It was not immediately clear who among Mr Navalny’s family or allies would attend the funeral, with many of his associates in exile abroad due to fear of prosecution in Russia.

Navalny’s Foundation for Fighting Corruption and his regional offices were designated as “extremist organisations” by the Russian government in 2021.

The politician’s team said the funeral would be streamed live on Mr Navalny’s YouTube channel.

His widow, Yulia Navalnaya, accused Putin and Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin of trying to block a public funeral.

“We don’t want any special treatment — just to give people the opportunity to say farewell to Alexei in a normal way,” Yulia Navalnaya wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. In a speech to European politicians on Wednesday in Strasbourg, France, she also expressed fears that police might interfere with the gathering or would “arrest those who have come to say goodbye to my husband”.

Mourners follow the hearse carrying the coffin of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny after it left the Mother of God Quench My Sorrows church towards the Borisovo cemetery for Navalny's burial, in Moscow's district of Maryino on March 1, 2024. (Photo by Alexander NEMENOV / AFP)

Moscow authorities refused permission for a separate memorial event for Mr Navalny and slain opposition leader Boris Nemtsov on Friday, citing Covid-19 restrictions, according to politician Yekaterina Duntsova.

Mr Nemtsov, a 55-year-old former deputy prime minister, was shot to death as he walked on a bridge adjacent to the Kremlin on the night of February 27, 2015.

Ms Yarmysh also urged Mr Navalny’s supporters around the world to lay flowers in his honour Friday.

“Everyone who knew Alexei says what a cheerful, courageous and honest person he was,” Ms Yarmysh said Thursday.

“But the greater truth is that even if you never met Alexei, you knew what he was like, too. You shared his investigations, you went to rallies with him, you read his posts from prison. His example showed many people what to do when even when things were scary and difficult.”

With the New York Post.