The death of Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader, has been confirmed by his representatives, who are calling for the return of his body amid confusion over the cause of the death of Putin’s once most significant political challenger.
Navalny, 47, died in jail on 16 February at 2.17pm local time, said his official spokesperson, Kira Yarmysh, citing a message from Navalny’s mother and challenging Russia’s official explanation that Navalny died after a fall at the Arctic penal colony where he was being held.
“Alexei Navalny was murdered,” Yarmysh wrote on X. “We demand that Alexei Navalny’s body be handed over to his family immediately.”
A fractured picture of what happened emerged on Saturday after the confirmation of Navalny’s death, as different accounts of the cause of death and the whereabouts were given by the penal colony to relatives and allies of the Russian opposition leader.
Navalny’s lawyer and mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, arrived at the penal colony in the Kharp settlement on Saturday, Yarmysh said in a video statement. After receiving official notice of Navalny’s death, they were told by an employee that her son’s body was in Salekhard after it was picked up by investigators from Russia’s investigative committee (IC).
Ivan Zhdanov, Navalny’s associate and director of the Anti-Corruption Foundation, said the lawyer and Nalvany’s mother were told at the penal colony the cause of death was sudden death syndrome. Another lawyer of Navalny’s, however, was told by the penal colony’s investigative committee that the cause of death had not yet been established, Yarmysh said, and were told that “a new histological examination has been carried out”.
Navalny mother arrived on Saturday to find the Salekhard morgue closed. When they called, the lawyer was told Navalny’s body was not there, said Yarmysh.
“The results will supposedly be available next week. It’s obvious that they are lying and doing everything they can to avoid handing over the body,” said Yarmysh, adding that the IC said Navalny’s body would not be handed over to his family until the investigation was complete.
“The lawyers were informed that the investigation had been concluded and that something criminal had not been established,” Yarmysh added. “They literally lie every time, driving us around in circles and covering their tracks.”
“The body is not being released because the cause of death has not been established,” Zhdanov wrote on X.
The death of the jailed Kremlin critic drew swift condemnation from international leaders, senior western officials and Russian opposition figures on Friday, who placed the blame firmly on Russia and called the death a “further sign of Putin’s brutality”. On Saturday, G7 foreign ministers gathered at the annual Munich security conference called on Russia to fully clarify the circumstances of Navalny’s death.
Navalny had been serving a decades-long prison term on various charges, the latest of which was a 19-year sentence on six counts, in a remote penal colony within the Arctic Circle. He had been behind bars since returning from Germany in January 2021 for charges that he rejected as politically motivated.
His death has been a watershed moment for the country’s fractured pro-democracy movement, which has practically ceased to exist since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. In cities across Europe on Friday, hundreds of protesters, many of them Russian émigrés, gathered to express their outrage over the death of Navalny, the most formidable domestic opponent of the Russian president.
In Russia itself, at least 340 people have been detained at events across 30 cities since Navalny’s death, according to the rights group OVD-Info.
Speaking to broadcasters in Munich on Saturday, the UK foreign secretary, David Cameron, signalled there would be “consequences”, but beyond summoning the Russian foreign ambassador and that he would urge other G7 foreign ministers at the Munich gathering to take action, he fell short of announcing what exact measures would be taken.
“What we do is we look at whether there are individual people that are responsible and whether there are individual measures and actions we can take. We don’t announce them in advance, so I can’t say any more than that. But that is what we will be looking at,” said Cameron.
On Saturday, Russia said it was unacceptable for Britain to interfere in its internal affairs after London told a top embassy official that it held Russian authorities responsible for Navalny’s death, according to Reuters.
“Reflecting overnight makes you think what an incredibly brave man this was,” said Cameron. “His life revealed so much about the true nature of Putin’s ghastly regime. And his death has revealed that all over again.”
