Unprecedented Mourning: Russia Bids Farewell to Alexei Navalny
Five hundred people formed a line leading to the grave of Alexei Navalny, who "has already disappeared under a mountain of flowers." The opposition leader was buried on Friday at the Borisov Cemetery in Moscow. Media outlets published photos and videos from the cemetery entrance, noting that such a farewell had not been seen for Russian figures like Yeltsin or Gorbachev.
8:46 AM EST, March 3, 2024
"This is what the queue to Alexei Navalny's grave looks like on the second day after his funeral," SOTA added a time-lapse video showcasing hundreds of people waiting in line.
Metal detectors at the cemetery's entrance, where Navalny was laid to rest, were removed earlier.
The independent service Agency highlighted that the pile of flowers at Navalny's grave stands three feet high and extends well beyond the length of the grave itself.
A comparison with the funerals of President Boris Yeltsin and the last leader of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev, showed that even they were not mourned like Navalny, the service noted.
"A mound of flowers about three feet tall has built up over the grave of Alexei Navalny," reported "Siren."
A visitor to the cemetery on Sunday mentioned that the nearby florist shop had run out of flowers for the day.
Russia says farewell to one of its prominent politicians, a narrative somewhat overshadowed as many citizens might not have been aware of the event; scant coverage was given by pro-Kremlin media, and federal channels altogether ignored it.
The queue leading to Navalny's grave remains long.
Here's another perspective, recorded from a car at the cemetery:
- The police are acting quite restrainedly, – a reporter from SOTAVision, who was present, observed.
- "My only wish is to live to see the day when things change," stated a woman visiting to pay her respects to Navalny. "It's heartening that the youth are standing up for their future. I'm filled with joy by it. But I still hold onto hope, wishing that if change doesn't come from below, then perhaps someone from above will make way for it," she added.
On Friday, at least 128 people were detained in connection with Navalny's funeral; arrests occurred in 19 cities across Russia, including Moscow, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Chelyabinsk, Omsk, Saint Petersburg, and Sochi, reported the independent project OVD-Info.
"Russia will be free. Putin is a killer", "Love is stronger than fear," and "No to war" were among the slogans chanted by attendees around the church where Navalny's funeral service was held.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) posits that the Russian authorities refrained from suppressing anti-war protests during Navalny's funeral to "avoid provoking further outrage."
