For over a decade, Navalny, who was married with two children, has been a thorn in Putin’s side.

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by Mick the Ram

The mother of Alexei Navalny, who died in a Russian prison in highly suspicious circumstances on 16 February, has called on President Vladimir Putin to release his body back to his family.

Lyudmila Navalnaya travelled to the Siberian penal colony, where her son’s death was reported, immediately after being given the news, but despite five days of trying to see him, she continues to be denied.

She says she doesn’t know where his body has been moved to and can get no answers from the prison mortuary to her repeated requests.

Local authorities are suggesting it will be a further two weeks before they are able to release Mr Navalny’s body, as it is being held for “chemical analysis”.

In a development on Tuesday 20 February his wife, Yulia, had her X account suspended, after she had alleged her husband’s body was being kept until traces of poisoning by the nerve agent Novichok had disappeared, the same compound used in an unsuccessful attempt to kill him back in 2020.

She had also vowed to continue Mr Navalny’s campaigning. Her account was reinstated later with the former Twitter site saying in a statement that it was blocked “mistakenly”, due to a “system error”.

Users of the platform are calling on owner Elon Musk to explain why the account was suspended in the first place.

Sudden death syndrome?

Navalny, who was the Russian opposition’s most significant leader of the last decade, had been serving a 19-year sentence on politically motivated charges, when officials say he fell into an unconscious state and later put it down to “sudden death syndrome”, although that diagnosis has been widely dismissed, particularly by many of the world leaders.

Upon receiving the dreadful news of her son’s shock death, his mother and lawyer travelled together to the remote colony, nicknamed Polar Wolf, but in the five days since, they have been repeatedly shut down in their efforts to locate where he is being kept.

Demand for release of body

In a direct appeal to President Putin, his mother said: “I’ve not been able to see him for five days, they’re refusing to give his body to me, and they’re not even saying where he is”.

Continuing she implored the Russian leader: “I’m asking you, Vladimir Putin – it all depends on you alone. Let me finally see my son. I demand that Alexei’s body is released immediately, so I can give him a decent burial.”

Direct accusation

Speaking in even more damning tones, his wife Yulia directly accused Putin of killing her husband. In a video message she stated that she knew why he had been killed and promised to release that information “very soon”.

She said: “Three days ago, Vladimir Putin killed my husband and the father of my children. Putin took away the most important thing I had, the person who was closest to me and whom I loved most.”

Continuing she said she would carry on fighting for the country to be free, peaceful and happy, adding that she believed they needed to use every opportunity to fight against the war, corruption and injustice, vowing to bring about the “beautiful Russia of the future, of which my husband dreamed so much,” so that his “unthinkable death” will not have been in vain.

Torn apart

Twenty-four hours earlier she told EU leaders not to recognise Russia’s presidential elections on 16 March and to pursue members of Putin’s inner circle, who were still trying to dodge sanctions.

She described herself as being torn in two, with her heart broken.

Kremlin response

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called her accusations “unfounded and vulgar”, but added that since Ms Navalnaya was widowed just days ago he wouldn’t comment further.

He did however say that comments by Western politicians in regards to Navalny’s death were “arrogant” and “unacceptable”.

Wish to say goodbye

Responding, Ms Navalnaya said: “I couldn’t care less about how the murderer’s press secretary comments on my words, I just want them to give back Alexei’s body and let him be buried with dignity, don’t get in the way of people saying goodbye to him.”

With obvious anger flowing through her veins she snapped: “They are hiding his body, refusing to let his mother see him, and they lie.”

Account shut down briefly

Whether there was a connection, or it was just a coincidence, but Yulia’s X account suddenly became inaccessible for a brief period on Tuesday 20th. The site’s official safety account put out a statement: “Our platform’s defence mechanism against manipulation and spam mistakenly flagged the account as violating our rules”.

Yulia has amassed more than 100,000 followers since it was created.

US in no doubt where blame lies

Responding to questions on Monday 19th, President Joe Biden said: “The fact of the matter is Putin is responsible, whether he ordered it or he is responsible for the circumstances he put that man in. It’s a reflection of who he is and it just cannot be tolerated.”

Punching for change

There is a sense that the amount of flowers that have been piled up at memorials for Navalny all across Russia, do seem to indicate that there is a good proportion who are wanting change.

These tributes are removed by hooded officials, but in a show of resistance they are replaced almost immediately.

It is these Russians that Alexei Navalny’s widow addresses with her video, calling on people to unite into a fist and “punch hard” at the Putin regime; although it has to be remembered that the one person who punched the hardest, sadly paid the biggest price.