The mother of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny on Monday was denied access to a morgue where his body was believed to be kept after his death in an Arctic penal colony, and Navalny’s allies accused authorities of trying to hide evidence.
Navalny’s spokesperson Kira Yarmysh said that the Investigative Committee, the country’s top criminal investigation agency, informed Lyudmila Navalnaya that the cause of her son’s death remained unknown and that the official probe had been extended. “They lie, buy time for themselves and do not even hide it,” Yarmysh posted on X.
Many world leaders blamed President Vladimir Putin and his government for Navalny’s death Friday at age 47. Navalny’s team said he was “murdered,” and charged that officials’ refusal to hand over his body was part of a cover-up.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov slammed what he described as “boorish” and “inadmissible” statements by Western leaders.
“Those statements can’t do any harm to the head of our state, but they certainly aren’t becoming for those who make them,” Peskov said in a call with reporters.
Yarmysh said that Navalny’s 69-year-old mother and his lawyers were not allowed into the morgue in Salekhard on Monday morning. The staff didn’t answer when they asked if the body was there, Yarmysh said.
Asked when Navalny’s body could be handed over to his family, Peskov responded that the Kremlin was not involved in those proceedings, adding that the official probe was continuing in line with the law.
Navalny’s ally Ivan Zhdanov denounced the Russian authorities as “lackeys and liars.” “It’s clear what they are doing now - covering up the traces of their crime,” he wrote Monday.
Navalny’s death has deprived the Russian opposition of its most well-known and inspiring politician less than a month before an election.
Police officers watch as a woman cries as she pays tribute to Alexei Navalny at the monument, a large boulder from the Solovetsky islands, where the first camp of the Gulag political prison system was established in St. Petersburg, Russia, Sunday, Feb. 18, 2024. Russians across the vast country streamed to ad-hoc memorials with flowers and candles to pay tribute to Alexei Navalny, the most famous Russian opposition leader and the Kremlin's fiercest critic. Russian officials reported that Navalny, 47, died in prison on Friday. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)
A woman lays flowers to pay the last respect to Alexei Navalny at the monument, a large boulder from the Solovetsky islands, where the first camp of the Gulag political prison system was established, near the historical the Federal Security Service (FSB, Soviet KGB successor) building in Moscow, Russia, on Sunday, Feb. 18, 2024. Russians across the vast country streamed to ad-hoc memorials with flowers and candles to pay tribute to Alexei Navalny, the most famous Russian opposition leader and the Kremlin's fiercest critic. Russian officials reported that Navalny, 47, died in prison on Friday. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
In this photo released by U.S. Embassy in Russia, U.S. Ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy lays flowers to pay the last respect to Alexei Navalny at the monument, a large boulder from the Solovetsky islands, where the first camp of the Gulag political prison system was established, near the historical the Federal Security Service (FSB, Soviet KGB successor) building in Moscow, Russia, on Sunday, Feb. 18, 2024. Russians across the vast country streamed to ad-hoc memorials with flowers and candles to pay tribute to Alexei Navalny, the most famous Russian opposition leader and the Kremlin's fiercest critic. Russian officials reported that Navalny, 47, died in prison on Friday. (U.S. Embassy in Russia via AP)
A family pays tribute to Alexei Navalny at the monument, a large boulder from the Solovetsky islands, where the first camp of the Gulag political prison system was established in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Sunday. AP PHOTO/DMITRI LOVETSKY
A view of the town of Kharp seen through a frame with the words 'Happiness is not over the hill' in the Yamalo-Nenetsk region about 1,900 kilometers (1,200 miles) northeast of Moscow, Russia, on Sunday, Feb. 18, 2024. Alexei Navalny, the fiercest foe of Russian President Vladimir Putin who crusaded against official corruption and staged massive anti-Kremlin protests, died in prison Friday Feb. 16, 2024 Russia's prison agency said. He was 47. (AP Photo)
People lay flowers paying tribute to Alexei Navalny at the Memorial to Victims of Political Repression in St. Petersburg, Russia, Sunday, Feb. 18, 2024. Russians across the vast country streamed to ad-hoc memorials with flowers and candles to pay tribute to Alexei Navalny, the most famous Russian opposition leader and the Kremlin's fiercest critic. Russian officials reported that Navalny, 47, died in prison on Friday. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)
A young woman lays flowers to pay the last respect to Alexei Navalny at the monument, a large boulder from the Solovetsky islands, where the first camp of the Gulag political prison system was established, near the historical the Federal Security Service (FSB, Soviet KGB successor) building in Moscow, Russia, on Sunday, Feb. 18, 2024. Russians across the vast country streamed to ad-hoc memorials with flowers and candles to pay tribute to Alexei Navalny, the most famous Russian opposition leader and the Kremlin's fiercest critic. Russian officials reported that Navalny, 47, died in prison on Friday. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
A view of the entrance of the prison colony in the town of Kharp, in the Yamalo-Nenetsk region about 1,900 kilometers (1,200 miles) northeast of Moscow, Russia, on Sunday, Feb. 18, 2024. Alexei Navalny, the fiercest foe of Russian President Vladimir Putin who crusaded against official corruption and staged massive anti-Kremlin protests, died in prison Friday Feb. 16, 2024 Russia's prison agency said. He was 47. (AP Photo)
Municipal workers, right, follow the orders of the authorities and takes away flowers brought by people to pay tribute to Alexei Navalny from the Memorial to Victims of Political Repression in St. Petersburg, Russia, Sunday, Feb. 18, 2024. Russians across the vast country streamed to ad-hoc memorials with flowers and candles to pay tribute to Alexei Navalny, the most famous Russian opposition leader and the Kremlin's fiercest critic. Russian officials reported that Navalny, 47, died in prison on Friday. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)
Police officers watch a woman laying flowers to pay tribute to Alexei Navalny at the monument, a large boulder from the Solovetsky islands, where the first camp of the Gulag political prison system was established in St. Petersburg, Russia, Sunday, Feb. 18, 2024. Russians across the vast country streamed to ad-hoc memorials with flowers and candles to pay tribute to Alexei Navalny, the most famous Russian opposition leader and the Kremlin's fiercest critic. Russian officials reported that Navalny, 47, died in prison on Friday. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)