Navalny funeral: largest pro-opposition gathering in Moscow since start of war

The funeral of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny in Moscow was marked by the largest pro-opposition demonstration in Russia since the start of the Ukraine war.

Thousands of Russians gathered near the Soothe My Sorrows church in southeast Moscow to pay their respects to the fiercest anti-Putin critic to mount a serious challenge to the dictator. 

The crowds chanted “Russia will be free”, “No to war”, “Russia without Putin”, “We won’t forgive” and “Putin is a murderer”. 

One young man told reporters: “It’s very sad for the future of Russia…We won’t give up, we will believe in something better.”

A young woman said: “There are more than 10,000 people here, and no one is afraid…We came here in order to honour the memory of a man who also wasn’t afraid, who wasn’t afraid of anything.”

A video was live streamed from the Borisovskyoe cemetery where Navalny’s mother Lyudmila and father Anatoly stooped to kiss their son in his open coffin. 

Navalny’s wife Yulia and two children, as well as his top political aides, are based outside Russia and did not attend the funeral fearing detainment should they return to the country.

Yulia posted on X: “I don’t know how to live without you, but I will try my best to make you up there happy for me and proud of me. I don’t know if I’ll manage it or not, but I will try.”

On 16 February, Navalny collapsed after a walk in the IK-3 penal colony north of the Arctic Circle located in Kharp in the Yamalо-Nenets region about 1,900 km (1200 miles) northeast of Moscow. The charges he was held on were widely thought to be trumped up and politically motivated. 

The Kremlin has, of course, always denied any involvement in Navalny’s death which it claims was caused by “sudden death syndrome”. Navalny and his team published allegations of major corruption in Putin’s regime and he was one of Putin’s only serious challengers. 

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he had nothing to say to Navalny’s family but warned Russians: “Just a reminder that we have a law that must be followed. Any unauthorised gatherings will be in violation of the law, and those who participate in them will be held accountable – again, in line with the current law.”

A quarter of a million people watched the farewell to Navalny on his YouTube channel which was blocked in Russia. Still, many would have been watching through VPNs (Virtual Private Networks). As yet, there have been no arrests despite Peskov’s warnings and the atmosphere of brutality hanging over the affair. 

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich is still in a Russian jail after being detained last March on, once again, false charges of espionage. A two-year prison sentence has been given to Yaroslav Shirshikov, who was among the first to report on Gershkovich’s arrest in March last year. This week, human rights activist Oleg Orlov was sent to jail after being found guilty of “repeatedly discrediting” the Russian armed forces. In court, Orlov read Kafka’s The Trial in protest. After his sentencing, he said Russia was “sinking ever more deeply into darkness.”

The scenes from Navalny’s funeral, combined with the brutality of the illegal war in Ukraine, can only leave one in agreement with Orlov.

Write to us with your comments to be considered for publication at letters@reaction.life