Alexei Navalny death latest: Russian spies ‘visited opposition leader’s prison’ days before death

In full: Navalny’s family demands return of his body as hundreds detained at memorials across Russia

Alexei Navalny’s family have demanded the return of the opposition leaders’s body, with Russian authorities accused of hiding his body to cover up what they claim is a Kremlin-sponsored murder.

Navalny, 47, who was Vladimir Putin’s most prominent critic, died on Friday at the brutal “Polar Wolf” Arctic penal colony in Kharp, about 1,200 miles northeast of Moscow, where he was serving a three-decade sentence. Prison authorities, who announced his death, claim he fell unconscious after a walk.

Full report:

Russia must face consequences for the death of Alexei Navalny, leaders from around the world have said – pointing the finger squarely at the Kremlin as being responsible for the brutal murder of Vladimir Putin’s fiercest critic.

Navalny, 47, had recently been moved to a jail near the Arctic Circle where he was serving a sentence of almost two decades on charges that supporters and much of the international community believe were trumped up in order to silence him. It was the prison service that announced the news.

Full report:

FSB security officers visited Alexei Navalny’s prison two days before the Russian opposition leader died, campaigners have said.

The Gulagu.net website, set up by human rights activist Vladimir Osechkin, said several officers from the FSB - Russia’s intelligence service – disconnected security cameras and listening devices on their visit to the Polar Wolf Arctic prison.

The website, which counts political prisoners among its network of contacts, added that the visit was mentioned in a report by the local branch of the  Federal Penitentiary Service.

Editorial: That Navalny lost his life at the same time that world leaders were meeting at the Munich Security Conference doesn’t feel like much of a coincidence.

Read the full editorial here:

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.

Full report:

The Kremlin may hope his death serves as a deterrent to those toying with opposition activism, but in truth it makes the Russian president’s fiercest critic a hero and a martyr, writes Mary Dejevsky.

Read Mary’s piece in full here:

For a decade and more, he and his team deployed a mix of tenacity and mockery to probe the Mafia-style financial links between those at the top of Russian politics, security and business, writes John Kampfner.

Frozen out of state-controlled mainstream media, Navalny used every digital platform and every social media channel available to shine a light on Putin’s corrupt regime, surviving multiple poisonings and incarceration until he was finally – and inevitably – silenced by his greatest foe...

Read John’s piece in full here:

Maria Pevchikh, head of the board of Navalny’s anti-corruption foundation, said the opposition leader would "live on forever in millions of hearts."

"Navalny was murdered. We still don’t know how we’ll keep on living, but together, we’ll think of something," she wrote on X.