Supporters of Navalny defy Kremlin at final farewell

Alexei Navalny lay in an open casket in a Moscow church last Friday under a bed of roses, carnations and chrysanthemums, his face pale in candlelight, surrounded by grieving relatives and supporters.

- Andrew Roth

Despite appearances, it was anything but a normal funeral. His mother, Lyudmila, in a black headscarf and sunglasses, had just returned from wresting his body from Russian investigators in the Arctic. Many of those closest to the late opposition leader were not there at all.

Absent was Navalny's wife, Yulia, who has vowed to carry on her husband's work, and can no longer be in Russia without risking charges of "extremism". Her message of farewell was conveyed in an Instagram post, using the common Russian nickname for Alexei. "Lyosha, thank you for 26 years of absolute happiness," she wrote, and then alluding to his imprisonment: "Yes, even in the last three years of happiness." Nor were his two children there; they will probably grow up and live in exile, at least until Vladimir Putin leaves power. Nor were his closest supporters, many of whom have been arrested or fled abroad.