A year after Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny died behind bars, his supporters held memorial events on Sunday, with hundreds risking reprisals by visiting his grave in Moscow.
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Throughout the morning, people braved glacial temperatures to file past Navalny’s grave in Moscow’s Borisovskoye cemetery, defying warnings that authorities would be watching them.
Meanwhile, world leaders including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz paid tribute to Navalny’s legacy and decried Russian President Vladimir Putin’s autocratic rule.
Remembrance events were taking place with Russia’s opposition movement – driven into exile by unprecedented repression – still plagued by infighting and badly weakened since the loss of its figurehead.
Exiled in various countries, its leading members have tried to revive the fight against Putin’s long reign, including in Russia where criticism of authorities is severely punished.
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Navalny – Putin’s main opponent – was declared an “extremist” by Russian authorities, a ruling that remains in force despite his death in an Arctic penal colony on February 16, 2024.