Moscow (dpa) – Two years after the death of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, many people in Russia and other countries commemorated the opposition leader on Monday.

Relatives, including his mother, laid flowers at his grave at the Borisovskoye Cemetery in Moscow.

Despite heavy snowfall in some areas, a ban on rallies and a climate of fear and intimidation fostered by the authorities with a conspicuous police presence, people laid flowers at memorials across the country to the victims of political persecution.

There were reports of one arrest each in St Petersburg and Volgograd.

According to Navalny’s team, which operates in exile abroad, commemorations were planned in more than 20 countries.

In Germany, events were planned in a dozen cities, including Berlin, Hamburg and Leipzig.

His widow Yulia Navalnaya is expected at a rally in Paris on Monday evening.

Killed by a nerve agent?

Navalny died on February 16, 2024 in a penal colony in the Arctic region.

His widow, Yulia Navalnaya, has accused Russian President Vladimir Putin murdered her husband.

On Saturday, on the fringes of the Munich Security Conference, Navalnaya and German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul announced that laboratory results showed Navalny was killed with the toxin from a poison dart frog.

Along with Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, France and the United Kingdom backed the findings.

Wadephul said he was shocked and said only the Russian state had the means and the opportunity to poison the opposition leader.

Russian denial

The Kremlin has firmly rejected accusations that Navalny was poisoned in a prison camp two years ago.

“Of course, we do not accept such accusations, we do not agree with them, we consider them biased and unfounded,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Russian news agency Interfax on Monday.

If true, it would not be the first time the Russian state had tried to eliminate the prominent dissident.

Navalny narrowly survived an attempt on his life with the chemical warfare agent Novichok in 2020, which the Kremlin also denies being behind.

Navalny was idolized by many as an opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin and a supporter of a free Russia.

Source: dpa.com