GEIS-新闻详情

Navalny tributes removed by group of masked men as Moscow police look on

2024-02-18 00:00:00.0 独立报-世界新闻原网页

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails

Please enter a valid email address

I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice

Thanks for signing up to the

Breaking News email

{{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}

Floral tributes to Alexei Navalny, President Vladimir Putin's fiercest foe who died Friday in a Russian penal colony, were removed overnight by groups of unknown men while police watched, videos on Russian social media channels show.

More than 100 people were detained in eight cities across Russia after they came to lay flowers in memory of Navalny, according to OVD-Info, a group that monitors political repression in Russia. Russia's prison service said in the Arctic penal colony where he was serving a 19-year sentence. On Saturday, police blocked access to a memorial in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk and detained several people, OVD-Info said.

" srcset="https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/02/17/07/Russia_Navalny_Obit_13720.jpg?quality=75&width=320&auto=webp 320w, https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/02/17/07/Russia_Navalny_Obit_13720.jpg?quality=75&width=640&auto=webp 640w" src="https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/02/17/07/Russia_Navalny_Obit_13720.jpg" data-gallery-length="4" class="i-amphtml-fill-content i-amphtml-replaced-content" pinger-seen="true">

(AP)

Videos and photos shared on Russian social media channels showed flowers being cleared from monuments to victims of Soviet-era repressions across Russia. In Moscow, flowers were removed overnight from a memorial near the headquarters of Russia's Federal Security Service by a large group while police looked on, a video showed. But by morning more flowers had appeared.

RECOMMENDED

Russian spies ‘visited Navalny’s prison’ days before his death - live

Undo

Putin reveals who he wants to be the next US president

Undo

Furniture Deals | Search ads

Unsold Showroom Furniture in Singapore - Prices May Suprise YouFurniture Deals | Search ads| Sponsored Sponsored

Undo

Telehealth Dave

Taylor Swift, 33, Takes Off Makeup, Leaves Us With No WordsTelehealth Dave| Sponsored Sponsored

Undo

The news of Navalny's death comes less than a month before an election that will give Putin another six years in power.

It shows “that the sentence in Russia now for opposition is not merely imprisonment, but death,” said Nigel Gould-Davies, a former British ambassador to Belarus and senior fellow for Russia & Eurasia at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.

A man lays flowers paying the last respect to Alexei Navalny at the monument, a large boulder from the Solovetsky island

How did Navalny die?

Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service claimed that Navalny felt sick after a walk Friday and lost consciousness at the penal colony in the town of Kharp, in the Yamalo-Nenets region about 1,900 kilometers (1,200 miles) northeast of Moscow. An ambulance arrived, but he couldn’t be revived; the cause of death is still “being established,” it said.

Navalny had been jailed since January 2021, when he returned to Moscow to face certain arrest after recuperating in Germany from nerve agent poisoning he blamed on the Kremlin. He was later convicted three times, saying each case was politically motivated, and received a sentence of 19 years for extremism.

After the last verdict, Navalny said he understood he was “serving a life sentence, which is measured by the length of my life or the length of life of this regime.”

Hours after Navalny's death was reported, his wife, Yulia Navalnaya, made a dramatic appearance at a security conference in Germany where many leaders had gathered.

Promoted stories

healthnfits.com

Man Thought He Found A Puppy In The Forest - Then Vet Calls The Policehealthnfits.com

Undo

by Taboola by Taboola