The widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny accused the Kremlin on Monday of hiding his body to cover up his murder in an Arctic penal colony.
Yulia Navalnaya, who has vowed to continue the fight against her late husband, President Vladimir Putin, called on Russians to rally around her in a long video address.
Her comments came after Mr. Navalny's team announced that his mother and lawyer had been denied access to his body and that the investigation into what killed him had been extended.
“Three days ago, President Vladimir Putin killed my husband,” Navalnaya, 47, said in a nine-minute video posted on YouTube ahead of talks with European Union foreign ministers in Brussels. She said authorities were waiting for traces of “yet another Putin Novichok.” Leaving his body refers to the military nerve agent used to poison him years ago.
The Kremlin denies involvement in the poisoning and dismissed suggestions that Putin was behind his death on Friday.
Yulia vowed to continue her husband's efforts to secure a free Russia. “We know exactly why Putin killed Alexei three days ago. We will publish names and faces,” she said in the video.
“The most important thing we can do for Alexei and ourselves is to keep fighting,” she added.
“I will continue the life's work of Alexei Navalny,” Navalny said. “I ask you to stand with me.”
Russian prison authorities said Navalny suddenly died Friday afternoon after collapsing after a walk inside the remote “Arctic Wolves” prison.
The news sparked outrage, with many international leaders condemning Putin, while Russia's scattered opposition was reeling from the loss of one of the Kremlin's most powerful enemies. The Russian government scoffed at the Western reaction and called on the world to await the results of an official investigation into his death.
But Navalny's supporters rejected the official version of events.
And on Monday morning, spokeswoman Kayla Yarmysh said Navalny's mother and lawyers were denied access to a nearby morgue. She said the group had been informed that the investigation into his death had been extended, but it was unclear how long it would take.
“They weren't allowed in. One of the lawyers was literally kicked out. Staff members were asked if Alexei's body was there, but they didn't answer,” Yarmash said in a series on the X show. I mentioned it in my post. Yarmis said prison officials in the Arctic town of Salekhard announced the body had been taken over the weekend.
The country's main investigative body, the Commission of Inquiry, told the organization, “The cause of death is still 'unknown.'” “They lie, they buy time for themselves and they don't even hide it,” she added.
The commission of inquiry on Monday had no immediate information on the status of the investigation or when the body would be handed over.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a call with reporters on Monday that the investigation was ongoing but no results had been released yet. He reiterated that “frankly crude” accusations of blaming the Kremlin for Navalny's death, which are still pending, are “unacceptable.”
He also said the Kremlin could not answer questions about when Navalny's body would be handed over to his family.
Navalny, 47, was serving a total of 30-and-a-half years in prison at the time of his death. He was recently transferred to a prison high above the Arctic Circle, where conditions were harsh and his allies worried about his health and frequent isolation in punishment cells.
But his family said he was in good health before his death, and video footage from his court appearance the day before his death showed him cracking jokes and appearing to be in good health.
Meanwhile, people across Russia are placing flowers, candles and photographs of Navalny at local monuments to victims of Stalin-era repression.
Russian media reported that in some areas authorities regularly removed makeshift monuments and police detained people seemingly at random. The independent rights group OVD-Info, which tracks protest detentions, said as of Monday 389 people had been detained in about 40 cities across Russia for attempting to honor Navalny's memory.
The Kremlin has stepped up its crackdown on dissent since the Ukraine war, so even laying flowers at monuments can be considered a crime by law enforcement and lead to detention and prison sentences.
Meanwhile, Russian propaganda is pushing the claim that Mr. Navalny's death was in the interests of the West, and some hawks in the Kremlin have asserted, without providing evidence, that the West was behind Mr. Navalny's death. He even suggests that he may be involved.
President Putin, who is up for re-election next month, has not yet commented on Navalny's death. Asked about Putin's reaction to the news, Spokesman Peskov said Monday he had nothing to add.
