Navalny body 'was covered in bruises' as calls grow for new sanctions

Putin crony threatens nuclear war

- Michael Knowles

CALLS intensified last night for Ukraine to be given more weapons to fight Russian forces as it emerged that the body of Vladimir Putin critic Alexei Navalny was covered in bruises.

The Russian opposition leader died on Friday in what is widely suspected to be a murder carried out by the Kremlin.

Mr Navalny, 47, who became a symbol of the hope for freedom in Russia, reportedly had bruising on his head and chest when his body was brought into the Salekhard District Clinical Hospital at Okrug in the north east of the country.

A paramedic told Russian opposition media: "Such injuries, described by those that saw them, appear from seizures. The person convulses, they try to restrain him and bruises appear. They also said he had a bruise on his chest. That is, they still tried to resuscitate him, and he died, most likely from cardiac arrest."

Mr Navalny died after falling ill during a walk at a notorious prison in the Arctic.

His mother failed to find his body at the morgue in Salekhard on Saturday and colleagues at the Anti-Corruption Foundation have accused the Russian authorities of a cover-up.

It has prompted renewed calls for Ukraine to be sent more long-range missiles, artillery and armour to defeat Russian forces.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak spoke to European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen yesterday, discussing the war in Ukraine, the death of Mr Navalny and the conflict in Gaza.

A Downing Street spokeswoman said: "Ahead of the second anniversary of Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, they underscored the importance of providing support to the Ukrainian people.

"The Prime Minister and President Von der Leyen expressed their outrage at the death of Alexei Navalny, and underscored the utmost importance of holding those responsible within the Russian system to account."