Alexei Navalny’s funeral to be held on March 1, says spokesperson

Funeral of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in Moscow on March 1 faces venue challenges and political implications.

The funeral of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died earlier this month in a remote Arctic penal colony, will take place on March 1 in Moscow after several locations declined to host the service, his spokesperson said.

His funeral will be held at a church in Moscow’s southeast Maryino district on March 1 afternoon, Kira Yarmysh said February 27. The burial is to be at a nearby cemetery.

Navalny died in mid-February in one of Russia’s harshest penal facilities. Russian authorities said the cause of his death at age 47 is still unknown, and the results of any investigation are likely to be questioned abroad. Many Western leaders have already said they hold Russian President Vladimir Putin responsible for his death.

Ms. Yarmysh spoke of the difficulties his team encountered in trying to find a site for a “farewell event” for Navalny.

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Writing on X, formerly known as Twitter, she said most venues said they were fully booked, with some “refusing when we mention the surname ‘Navalny,” and one disclosing that “funeral agencies were forbidden to work with us.”

Ivan Zhdanov, the director of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, said the funeral was initially planned for February 29 — the day of Putin’s annual address to Russia’s Federal Assembly — but no venue would agree to hold it then.