Joao Gómez Gravinho, the foreign minister, this Saturday paid his last respects to dissident Alexei Navalny, who died in still unclear circumstances, considering the “number of Russian citizens who defied Putin's dictatorship to be impressive”.
Portuguese Foreign Minister Joao Gómez Cravinho said Saturday the number of people who “challenged Putin's dictatorship” and attended the funeral of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny was impressive.
“The number of Russian citizens who attended Alexei Navalny's funeral in defiance of Putin's dictatorship was impressive. The Portuguese ambassador was present along with almost all the European ambassadors,” Gómez Gravinho wrote on the social network X (formerly Twitter).
The minister also shares the publication on the network flowers at the grave of Alexei Navalny to pay his last respects to the Russian politician.
A photo of Navalny's grave and a cross covered with flowers along with an image of an opponent who died in prison on February 16.
Thousands of people defied Russian authorities and attended the funeral of activist Alexei Navalny at a Moscow church, despite warnings that illegal demonstrations would not be allowed.
Navalny, a critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin's regime and a charismatic defender of the fight against corruption, died at the age of 47 under circumstances that remain unclear. Prison services said he collapsed suddenly after a walk at the Arctic penal colony where he was serving a 19-year sentence for terrorism, and the death certificate cited natural causes.
His allies, his widow Yulia Navalnaya and many Western leaders blame Putin for Navalny's death. The Russian president denied such allegations.
Hundreds of Russians continued to visit the Borisovo cemetery southeast of Moscow this Saturday to lay flowers at the grave of Alexei Navalny, who was buried this Friday. At the site, police operate metal detectors and carefully search all visitors.
According to local testimonies collected by the Spanish agency Efe, it is forbidden to enter the cemetery with food or drinks, but the police presence is much smaller today than yesterday. “People can enter without major barriers. The environment is very peaceful,'' he said.
Prisoner rights watchdog OVD-Info reported today that more than a hundred people were detained in 20 Russian cities during the opposition leader's funeral.
Although Navalny's funeral took place in Moscow, the largest number of arrests took place in the Siberian cities of Novosibirsk and Omsk, where 35 people were taken to police facilities.
In the Russian capital, 14 people were arrested, while in Yekaterinburg, the Urals capital, considered the country's most liberal city, about a dozen people were arrested.
The funerals in Moscow took place without incident at the Marino Church, the place of resurrection and the Borisovo cemetery.
Alexei Navalny's mother, a self-proclaimed believer, confirmed that Navalny chose the church because she also had her son Jajar baptized there and attends mass there.
Borisovo Cemetery, located southeast of Moscow, had to close and open its doors several times on Friday due to the large number of people who wanted to say goodbye to the opposition leader.