Alexei Navalny Laid to Rest; Hundreds Gather to Say Farewell

The late Russian opposition figure, Alexei Navalny, was bid a final farewell on Friday afternoon at the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God Soothe My Sorrows in southern Moscow.

The funeral service followed closely on the heel of Russia's prison service announcement of his passing two weeks prior.

Relatives were gathered around the coffin at the Borisovsky cemetery, a few hundred meters from the church. Hundreds of supporters have also gathered to pay their final respects to the man who was once Vladimir Putin's primary political enemy.

Navalny's coffin was lowered to the grave to Frank Sinatra's legendary song "My Way," according to his team.

Several videos showed a large number of people streaming towards the cemetery, but they were only allowed in after the tomb was sealed to leave flowers.

Chants of "No to war!" "Russia without Putin!" and "Russia will be free!" were heard. At the same time, live streaming of the funeral and burial experienced some struggles due to communication jamming at the location, CNN reported.

Supporters Came to Say 'Dasvidaniya'

Navalny's funeral was supposed to be a private one, but people in Moscow still came to express their grief.

For this gesture, Navalny's team expressed gratitude to the hundreds of people who accompanied the Navalny family to lay the chief dissident to rest.

"I am very grateful to those who came to the church today, and those who will come to the cemetery," Kira Yarmysh told the YouTube channel organized by Navalny's supporters for the occasion. "All those who support Alexey and write about it, it is very important now and will be even more important later. So please don't stop."

According to Navalny's team, Russian state news agencies have also made very minimal coverage of the funeral.

There were earlier reports that there were no arrests made during the funeral proceedings, but according to the human rights monitoring group OVD-Info, at least one arrest was made.

An additional 22 people were also detained when they tried to leave their homes to attend the funeral.

All the information about the arrests and detentions could not be independently verified as of writing.

Yulia to Alexei: 'I Love You Forever, Rest in Peace'

Meanwhile, Navalny's widow, Yulia Navalnaya, shared one final video addressed to her husband in her first comment on the day of his funeral.

"Lyosha, thank you for 26 years of absolute happiness," her caption read on X, formerly Twitter, referring to Navalny's nickname. "Yes, even for the happiness over the last three years. For love, for always supporting me, for making me laugh even from prison, for the fact that you always thought about me."

Navalnaya was not able to attend her husband's funeral due to concerns that Russian authorities would crack down on mourners.

The video contained clips of the Navalnys and their memories of each other, including their daughter Dasha and their son Zakhar.

"Love you forever. Rest in peace," Navalnaya's caption concluded.

Tags

Russia, Moscow, Vladimir putin, Ukraine