Alexei Navalny lay in an open casket in a Moscow church on Friday under a bed of roses, carnations and chrysanthemums, his face pale in candlelight, surrounded by grieving relatives and supporters. Despite appearances, it was anything but a normal funeral. His mother, Lyudmilla, in a black headscarf and sunglasses, had just returned from wresting his body from Russian investigators in the Arctic. And many of those closest to the late opposition leader were not there at all.
Absent was Navalny’s wife, Yulia, who has vowed to carry on her husband’s work, and can no longer be in Russia without risking charges of “extremism.” Her message of farewell was conveyed in an Instagram post, rather than in person. “Lyosha, thank you for 26 years of absolute happiness,” she wrote, and then alluding to his imprisonment: “Yes, even in the last three years of happiness.”
“I do not know how to live without you, but I will try to make you happy for me and proud of me up there,” she said. “I do not know if I can do it or not, but I will try my best.”
Nor were his two children there; they will probably grow up and live in exile, at least until Vladimir Putin leaves power. Nor were his closest supporters, many of whom have been arrested or fled abroad as his political organisation has been systematically ripped apart by the system over the past three years.
Thousands did brave the barricades and checkpoints established by police on Friday before the funeral, and an online live stream attracted more than 250,000 simultaneous viewers during the day, sharing scenes from the proceedings despite continued signal jamming by police. It was the largest public gathering of the opposition since the first days of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, providing a dash of hope in an otherwise bleak picture for Russia’s future.
“Our livestream has frozen but thank you to the British journalists who managed to put a camera through the fences of the Borisovo cemetery and film the most terrible scenes that we could imagine because this is an image that never should have existed,” said a visibly affected Leonid Volkov, one of Navalny’s closest allies, describing “how [Navalny’s parents] say goodbye to their son, cover his face and close his coffin”.
“It’s doubly and triply important they be allowed to say goodbye because they are representatives of all of us,” he continued. “Because there are hundreds of thousands of people around the world who cannot be there now.”
Navalny was a singular force in Russian opposition politics; few could withstand the continued pressure that he did over more than a decade of leading protests against the Kremlin. And yet he kept his sense of humour to the end, requesting that an orchestra play the final theme from Terminator 2 as his casket was lowered into the ground. In the film, the music plays as a robotic Arnold Schwarzenegger is lowered into molten steel in a teary goodbye, “The music from the film Terminator is very symbolic,” said Volkov. “Alexei loved this film very much.”
For some of those who attended, the funeral was a protest by another name. Some chanted “Navalny!”, risking arrest for holding an unsanctioned demonstration or supporting a convicted “extremist”. Others chanted “No to War!”, punishable by years in jail for discrediting the Russian armed forces or the “special military operation” in Ukraine. And others chanted “Putin is a murderer!”
As Navalny’s father and mother exited the Icon of the Mother of God “Assuage My Sorrows” Church, Navalny’s supporters hugged and comforted them. “Thank you, your son is a martyr,” one woman told them. As the hearse bearing his coffin travelled past, crowds behind metal barricades threw red carnations and roses in its path.
These are streets Navalny knew well; he lived in Marino, the bedroom community where his funeral service was held. Nearly a decade ago, Navalny also held a protest in the neighbourhood, alongside opposition leaders Boris Nemtsov (assassinated in 2015) and Ilya Yashin (jailed for eight-and-a-half years for criticising the war in Ukraine). The location was no accident. The Kremlin at the time was pushing the opposition out of central Moscow and would only permit a demonstration on the city’s outskirts.
On Friday, it also sought to push Navalny’s supporters out of sight, but despite the risks, they emerged in the thousands as a testament to the popularity and loyalty cultivated over more than a decade by the opposition leader. It is hard to imagine who will take up his mantle.
His supporters have vowed to continue his struggle. “You will be proud of us,” wrote his press secretary, Kira Yarmysh.
