Russian police arrested people who were paying tribute to the opponent, who died in prison on Friday.
More than 100 people were arrested in eight Russian cities after coming to lay flowers in memory of opponent Alexei Navalny, according to OVD-Info, a group that monitors political repression in Russia.
On Saturday, police blocked access to a memorial in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk and arrested several people, according to OVD-Info.
Videos and photos posted on Russian social media show flowers being removed from monuments erected in memory of victims of Soviet-era repressions across Russia.
In Moscow, flowers were removed overnight from a memorial near the headquarters of Russia’s Federal Security Service by a large group as police looked on, video showed. In the morning more flowers appeared.
The death of Alexei Navalny shows “that in Russia, the penalty incurred by opponents is no longer just imprisonment, but death”said Nigel Gould-Davies, former British ambassador to Belarus and senior fellow for Russia and Eurasia at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.
Russia’s federal prison service said Mr. Navalny felt unwell after a walk on Friday and lost consciousness in the penal colony in the town of Kharp in the Yamalo-Nenets region, about 1,900 kilometers (1,200 miles) to the north. east of Moscow. An ambulance arrived, but he could not be revived; the cause of death is always “under establishment”indicated the ministry.
Alexei Navalny had been imprisoned in January 2021, when he returned to Moscow to face certain arrest after recovering in Germany from a nerve agent poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin. He was subsequently convicted three times, claiming each case was politically motivated, and received a 19-year prison sentence for “extremism”.
After the last verdict, Alexeï Navalny declared that he understood that he “was serving a life sentence, which is measured by the length of my life or the life of this regime.”
Hours after the announcement of his death, his wife Yulia Navalnaya made an appearance at the Munich security conference where many leaders had gathered.
She said she had considered canceling, “but then I thought about what Alexei would do in my place. And I’m sure he would be there”adding that she was not sure if she could believe the information coming from official Russian sources.
“But if it’s true, I want Putin and everyone around him, Putin’s friends, his government to know that they will bear responsibility for what they did to our country, to my family and to my husband. And that day will come very soon”said Ms. Navalnaya.
US President Joe Biden said Washington did not know exactly what happened, “but there is no doubt that Mr. Navalny’s death was the consequence of an act committed by Mr. Putin and his henchmen.”
Mr Navalny “could have lived safely in exile”but he returned home knowing he risked being imprisoned or killed “because he believed deeply in his country, in Russia.”
In Germany, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Mr Navalny “probably paid for this courage with his life.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Mr Putin had been informed of Mr Navalny’s death.
