Moscow, 24 Feb

The body of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been handed over to his mother, a top aide to Navalny said on Saturday on his social media account.

Ivan Zhdanov, the director of Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation, made the announcement on his Telegram account and thanked “everyone” who had called on Russian authorities to return Navalny's body to his mother.

Earlier Saturday, Yulia Navalnaya, Navalny's widow, accused President Vladimir Putin of mocking Christianity by trying to force his mother to agree to a secret funeral after his death in an Arctic penal colony. “Thank you very much. Thanks to everyone who wrote and recorded video messages. You all did what you needed to do. Thank you. Alexei Navalny's body has been given to his mother,” Zhdanov wrote.

Navalny, 47, Russia's most well-known opposition politician, unexpectedly died on Feb 16 in an Arctic penal colony and his family have been fighting for more than a week to have his body returned to them. Prominent Russians released videos calling on authorities to release the body and Western nations have hit Russia with more sanctions as punishment for Navalny's death as well as for the second anniversary of its invasion of Ukraine.

Navalny's mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, is still in Salekhard, Navalny's press secretary Kira Yarmysh said on X, formerly Twitter. Lyudmila Navalnaya has been in the Arctic region for more than a week, demanding that Russian authorities return the body of her son to her. “The funeral is still pending," Yarmysh tweeted, questioning whether authorities will allow it to go ahead “as the family wants and as Alexei deserves”.

Earlier Saturday, Navalny's widow said in a video that Navalny's mother was being “literally tortured” by authorities who had threatened to bury Navalny in the Arctic prison. They, she said, suggested to his mother that she did not have much time to make a decision because the body is decomposing, Navalnaya said. “Give us the body of my husband,” Navalnaya said earlier Saturday. “You tortured him alive, and now you keep torturing him dead. You mock the remains of the dead."

Navalny, 47, Russia's most well-known opposition politician, unexpectedly died on 16 Feb in the penal colony, prompting hundreds of Russians across the country to stream to impromptu memorials with flowers and candles.