Alexei Navalny was buried today at Borisovskoye Cemetery, Moscow. Up to ten thousand people marked the occasion. Earlier, at his memorial service, his mother and father sat to the left of his open casket in The Church of the Icon of Our Lady Quench My Sorrows. Some foreign diplomats were at the funeral. However, there were no representatives of The Russian State which is not very surprising as it was The Russian State, under the instructions of Putin, that killed Alexei Navalny.
Three people who loved him deeply could only be there in spirit - not in person - his wife Yulia and his children Darya and Zakhar. This speaks volumes about the fearsome nature of The Russian State - having to choose to stay away from your husband or your father's funeral for fear of arrest.
In the circumstances, with so much smothering of information and so many citizens in fear of the autocratic government that rules them, a turn-out of ten thousand mourners and supporters was, in my view, pretty good. They will have all been photographed and identified by agents of The Russian State and some will suffer in the months that follow. It might have been a good time to wear Navalny masks.
After all, there is a sense in which they are all Alexei Navalny - desperate for a better future, a free Russia devoid of their dangerous megalomaniacal leader. There was some brave chanting before the crowd dispersed. Even if Navalny's people had had an opportunity to fully examine his body, I suspect they would have found no trace of the wicked Kremlin-endorsed practices that killed him.
It's so sad that Putin is still alive and Nevalny is not. There were a lot of brave people who came out for his funeral. May Putin rot in hell.
ReplyDeleteNevalny was the light and Putin is the darkness.
DeleteIt is a completely twisted situation.
ReplyDeleteGovernment by terror.
DeleteThe people of Russia need to rise up against their murderous dictator and remove him from office.
ReplyDeleteOr toss him out aq window.
The discontent must burst out one day but maybe there is another Putin waiting in the wings.
DeleteShame on that murderous Putin. What an extraordinarily brave man Alexei Navalny was. The west appears very weak in response to such an awful crime.
ReplyDeleteThe character of "The West" as we have known it is under severe threat now.
DeleteI didn't see any mention of this in our newspaper and I hve just had another look though and there's nothing. Perhaps today's paper? Nope, not a single word. I shall watch the news tonight and see if there is any mention. As for Putin: where's a sniper assassin when you need one?
ReplyDeleteMaybe a mature South Australian lady could give him a poisoned apple.
DeleteA terrible waste of a good life. A lesson in how Putin puts fear in every heart. He is a cruel heartless dictator.
ReplyDeleteOf that that there is no disPutin'.
DeleteIt is wise of his wife and children to stay away from Russian soil. If Putin could kill Navalny, he will go to no ends to destroy opposition to his hateful rule.
ReplyDeleteEven sends assassins to other countries - including Great Britain.
DeleteThe funeral and the masses of people who attended in spite of their justified fears featured big on our main news last night. How many more are still languishing in prisons and gulags for the only reason that they do not support Putin and his government.
ReplyDeleteWhen green shoots appear, stomp on them with heavy boots.
DeleteI was touched today to see a large blue candle alight in front of the church on the market square, with flowers and smaller candles left beside it, to honour and remember Navalny.
DeleteA candle of hope as well as remembrance.
DeleteA tragic end to a very brave man. How long before his wife and children meet with a similar fate?
ReplyDeleteYulia seems determined to keep Navalny's candle of change burning. Putin will seek to extinguish it.
DeleteI think the people were very brave to come out, not an easy thing to do in todays Russia.
ReplyDeleteThe Russian State with its controlled media hasn't even recognised Navalny's death.
DeleteA sad day for an incredibly brave man.
ReplyDeleteLet us hope that he did not die in vain.
DeleteYour name will go on the list. What is it?
ReplyDeleteIt's Dunham - D-U-N-H-A-M. Tasker Algernon Dunham and I live it 13, Boffin Avenue, Shepley, West Yorkshire W13 2FU.
DeleteUkraine has come close to flying a drone into someone's bedroom window, I hope they keep trying until they succeed. Many years ago, I built a house for a missile engineer, he said, "I can fly it in the front door, and out the back door without knocking the pictures off the wall, the world has no idea."
ReplyDeleteA drone through Putin's window would be good with a jar of novichok attached.
Delete