18 February 2024 , 00:16
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Alexei Navalny’s mother was yesterday told she could not see his body after flying 1,200 miles to the scene of his mystery death. Lyudmila, 69, was turned away at the morgue in Siberia as her son’s aides accused Vladimir Putin of hiding his corpse to cover up his murder. The Russian dictator’s most prominent critic was declared dead on Friday at the penal colony where he had been serving 30 years on trumped-up charges.
His spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh claimed: “We know for sure that it wasn’t just a death – it was a murder. “They are trying to cover traces, this is why they are not giving the body to his family and this is why they are just hiding him from them.” Bosses at the brutal Polar Wolf prison camp reportedly told Lyudmila her 47-year-old son had died of “sudden death syndrome” after he fell ill after a walk.
They said his body was in a morgue in a town about 30 miles away but when she got there staff said they had not taken delivery of it. Hours later, the politician’s lawyers were told his remains would not be handed over until an investigation was complete, said Ms Yarmysh.
Protests following the death of Navalny took place at the Russian Embassy in London (TIM ANDERSON)Yet shortly before, she claimed officials had said “the investigation had been concluded and that something criminal had not been established”. Ms Yarmysh added: “It’s obvious they are lying and doing everything they can to avoid handing over the body. “They literally lie every time, driving us around in circles.”
Theories abound that Mr Navalny may have been poisoned and his family want the body for examination. Meanwhile, G7 leaders yesterday observed a minute’s silence in tribute to Mr Navalny and called on Russia to fully clarify the circumstances of his death. And a diplomatic row broke out between London and Moscow following Russia’s ambassador to the UK Andrey Kelin being “invited” to the Foreign Office. Putin’s foreign ministry released a statement rejecting what it called the “biased and unrealistic assessments” of the UK over Mr Navalny.
Jailed Navalny ally Ilya Yashin thrown in ‘punishment cell’ at notorious prison after removing his jacket at breakfast
Russian President Vladimir Putin denies any involvement in the death of Alexei Navalny (Getty Images)A spokesman said: “During the meeting, the British side voiced a number of biased and unrealistic assessments regarding the death of citizen A. Navalny, and also tried, with no grounds, to hold the Russian authorities responsible for what happened. “The Russian side emphasised that the UK’s attempts to interfere in the fundamentally internal affairs of our country are categorically unacceptable.”
Foreign Secretary David Cameron had earlier vowed that the UK would take action over Mr Navalny. Both US President Joe Biden and Ukraine leader Volodymyr Zelensky declared there was no doubt Putin’s government was behind his death. Their condemnation was yesterday echoed by Labour leader Keir Starmer, the widow of murdered Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, and former US president Barack Obama. Mr Starmer described Mr Navalny as “an incredibly courageous man battling corruption in the most difficult of circumstances”.
A protester outside the Russian Embassy in London (TIM ANDERSON)Marina Litvinenko, whose husband Alexander died aged 44 after being poisoned with radioactive polonium at a London hotel in 2006, said Navalny’s death was “a very sad day” for Russia, and must lead to international action. She added: “The only way you want to help to crush Putin’s regime is to support Ukraine.”
Mr Obama said of Navalny: “He fought corruption, inspired millions and never wavered in his insistence on free expression, the rule of law, and a Russia that is accountable to the people and not a dictator. “He died in unyielding defence of his vision of a better future for his country – a vision, and a courageous example, that will never die.” Navalny, a lawyer, staged huge political rallies across the country and exposed how Putin and his cronies stole from the state.
He came second in a bid to become mayor of Moscow in 2013 and challenged the Russian president as leader of opposition party Russia of the Future. Mystery attackers nearly blinded him by throwing green dye in his face in 2017.
Before his death, the Russian opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, was attacked with green dyePutin refused to utter his name, referring to him only as “that person”, and the Kremlin dispatched FSB agents to kill him with Novichok in 2020. After more than a month in intensive care in a German hospital, he was immediately arrested on his return to Russia in January 2021. Mr Navalny’s death yesterday led to mourners queuing to lay flowers at shrines in Moscow.
According to a Russian human rights group, 340 people have been detained at events in 30 Russian cities to mark his death. Mr Navalny’s wife Yulia, 47, an economist, is said to live in Germany with their teenage son Zakhar while their daughter Daria is at Stanford University in California.
On Friday, she said: “We cannot trust Putin and the Putin government. They always lie. “I want Putin, his entire entourage, Putin’s friends, his government, to know they will bear responsibility for what they did to our country, to my family, to my husband.”