Aleksei A. Navalny died of natural causes, the Russian authorities have told her, and they will not release his remains unless she agrees to a “secret funeral.”
Aleksei A. Navalny, the leader of the opposition, passed away on Thursday, but his mother must approve of a “secret funeral” before his body can be released, according to a representative for Mr. Navalny’s family.
The mother of Mr. Navalny, Lyudmila Navalnaya, claimed that on Wednesday night, she was “secretly” brought to a morgue and “showed Aleksei.” According to Kira Yarmysh, a spokesman for the Navalny team, she was provided a medical report on Mr. Navalny’s passing, which said that he passed away from natural causes.
However, Ms. Navalnaya claimed that she was currently embroiled in a grueling conflict with the local government in Salekhard, Russia, who was refusing to give up custody of the remains because they were following orders from Moscow. She said that the police had threatened to “do something with my son’s body” if she did not “agree to a secret funeral.”
Ms. Navalnaya claimed in a video that was uploaded to her son’s YouTube channel that “they’re blackmailing me.” “They are dictating to me the location, time, and manner of Aleksei’s funeral.”
The debate over Mr. Navalny’s remains illustrates how important a figure he is, even in death, in Russian politics. The Kremlin seems to be concerned that a burial attended by Mr. Navalny’s supporters may become the center of protest activity. Regarding Ms. Navalnaya’s claims, the Russian government did not immediately respond.
In her video from Salekhard, the nearest city to the Arctic prison where Mr. Navalny passed away last week, Ms. Navalnaya stated, “They want to take me to the edge of a cemetery to a fresh grave and say, ‘Here lies your son.'” This doesn’t sit well with me. I want you to have the opportunity to say goodbye to Aleksei if you loved him and consider his passing to be a personal tragedy.
President Vladimir V. Putin remained silent about Mr. Navalny during the drama and carried on with a publicity tour that appeared to be focused on the upcoming presidential election, which is expected to be a rubber stamp event that Mr. Putin will undoubtedly win but which the Kremlin will use to bolster Mr. Putin’s legitimacy.
aboard a demonstration that served as a strong reminder to the West of his nation’s standing as a nuclear powerhouse, Mr. Putin made a quick flight aboard a supersonic bomber on Thursday.
According to a statement from the Kremlin, the flight only took thirty minutes. However, the wide-wing Tu-160M, also called a White Swan in Russia, has a range that enables it to carry twenty nuclear warheads and land in the United States.
One of the biggest and heaviest warplanes in the world, Mr. Putin, 71, was seen on Russian state television ascending the stairs beneath it just before it took off from the runway of an airfield in Kazan, a city east of Moscow. In a video that was made public by the Kremlin, Mr. Putin is shown sitting in the pilot’s seat during the trip.
Mr. Putin told reporters after getting off the aircraft that the flight had made a positive impression and he lauded the new, upgraded bomber as being “very reliable.”
The Kremlin’s spokesperson, Dmitri S. Peskov, stated on state television that Mr. Putin decided to take the flight on his own initiative on Thursday while touring an aircraft factory in Kazan and looking over four upgraded Tu-160M bombers.
However, since taking office as president of Russia more than 20 years ago, Mr. Putin has developed a reputation for pulling off publicity stunts that present him as a powerful leader of a major nation.
During this time, Mr. Putin has piloted a fighter jet, dove into the ocean in a submarine, and piloted a motorized hang glider to guide Siberian cranes to their wintering grounds. The much publicized antics portrayed Mr. Putin as a physically strong and daring leader.
Amid the most serious geopolitical confrontation between Moscow and the West since the worst of the Cold War, the bomber mission seemed to be an attempt to deliver a strong message.