The funeral of Alexei Navalny on Friday almost did not happen at all.
Bearing flowers, candles and placards, the crowd chanted Navalny’s name as his body was first delivered to a church in southern Moscow for a brief funeral and then to a nearby cemetery.
There were also riskier words uttered in a country where the state crushes even modest displays of dissent.
Mourners attend a funeral service for Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny at the Soothe My Sorrows church in Moscow on March 1, 2024.
Earlier in the day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov gave “a reminder” to those taking part: “Any unsanctioned gathering” would be punished.
The day was also tinged with the geopolitical tension between Moscow and the West, with a crowd of diplomats, including U.S.
Navalny “remains a shining example of what Russia could and should be,” the U.S. Embassy said in a post on X. »