Alexei Navalny’s mother urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to “immediately” release her son’s body, in her first words since his death in an Arctic prison.
Putin’s main political opponent died in his jail camp on Friday, according to Russian authorities. His team claims the 47-year-old was murdered.
His widow, Yulia Navalnaya, who has promised to carry on her husband’s work, reiterated his mother’s appeal and leveled fresh accusations against Putin in the wake of Navalny’s death.
Lyudmila Navalnaya, Navalny’s mother, visited the isolated IK-3 penal colony on Saturday, the morning after his death was announced, but has since been prohibited from viewing his remains.
“I appeal to you, Vladimir Putin. “The solution to the problem depends solely on you,” she stated in a video released by his team, clothed entirely in black.
Let me finally see my son. I demand that Alexei’s body be released immediately so that I can bury him humanely.
Behind her lay the barbed wire of the IK-3 prison above the Arctic Circle, one of Russia’s hardest institutions and where Navalny spent his final weeks.
“I haven’t seen him in five days. Lyudmila Navalnaya claimed, “They don’t give me his body, and I’m not even told where he is.”
Navalny’s supporters claim that her mother has been prevented from morgues and that investigators warned her that his remains might be detained for “at least two weeks” on Monday.
Navalny’s team also produced a letter to Putin from Lyudmila Navalnaya, who is not a prominent figure, making the demand.
The Kremlin has declined to disclose when the body would be turned over, and Putin has remained mute on the death of his main political opponent.
On Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed Yulia Navalnaya’s accusation that Putin murdered her husband as “unfounded and vulgar”.
“I do not give a damn how the press secretary of a murderer comments on my words,” Navalnaya shot back on social media.
“Give back the body of Alexei and let us bury him with dignity. Do not stop people from bidding farewell to him,” Navalnaya said.
‘Let us bury him with dignity’
Russia jailed hundreds of mourners in the days following Navalny’s death.
Yulia Navalnaya’s newly created account on the social networking platform X was suspended for 50 minutes on Tuesday, shortly after she made comments about the Kremlin.
The firm then reactivated it without providing an explanation.
On Monday, she made an emotional video appeal on the platform, accusing Putin of killing Navalny.
She said that she will continue her husband’s struggle against the Kremlin and met with EU foreign ministers.
Her team announced on Tuesday that she has persuaded the 27-nation union not to recognise Russia’s upcoming presidential election, which is expected to extend Putin’s authority until at least 2030.
“Do not recognise this election,” Navalnaya stated, according to remarks made by her team on social media.
“A president who killed his main political opponent cannot be legitimate by definition,” she went on to say.
She also asked the EU to “always make the distinction between Putin and Russia.”
‘Demonstrative revenge’
“People fleeing war and dictatorship are not your enemies,” she declared, urging the bloc to “assist” Russians fleeing their nation.
Hundreds of thousands of Russians fled overseas when Putin launched troops into Ukraine.
The West has accused the Kremlin of being behind Navalny’s death, which occurred three years into his captivity.
Navalny’s death has shaken liberal Russians.
His imprisoned buddy Ilya Yashin, who is serving an eight and a half-year sentence for condemning the Ukraine offensive, claimed in a message from prison on Tuesday that he had “no doubt” Navalny was slain.
“I am sure that he (Putin) ordered the killing,” Yashin said in a post released on social media by his lawyers, describing it as “demonstrative revenge.”
Yashin, a significant player in the Russian opposition who was not on Navalny’s squad but was connected to him, received a term last year.
Unlike other Putin critics, he elected to remain in Russia as Moscow launched its Ukraine offensive, influenced in part by Navalny’s defiant return to the nation.