Alexei Navalny's funeral is set for Friday on the outskirts of Moscow, and his spokesperson has two words of advice for anyone hoping to attend, per the New York Times. "Come early," Kira Yarmysh wrote on X, noting that Navalny would be buried in Borisovskoye Cemetery after an afternoon service at an area Russian Orthodox church in Maryino. Navalny's camp had wanted to hold the funeral on Thursday, but Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to give his state-of-the-nation speech that day, says Navalny aide Ivan Zhdanov. In other news on the Navalny front:
- Pressure: Zhdanov alleges that Russian authorities have been working behind the scenes to stifle any kind of memorial service for Navalny, including by pressuring venue owners not to allow his wake to be held at their establishments.
- Widow: Yulia Navalnaya fears that mourners at her late husband's funeral might face resistance from authorities, per CNN. "I'm not sure yet whether it will be peaceful or whether police will arrest those who have come to say goodbye to my husband," she said Wednesday during a speech in front of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France.
- Attorney: A lawyer who helped Navalny's mother retrieve the activist's body tells local media he was briefly detained in Moscow and has since been released, per the Moscow Times. Reports say that Vasily Dubkov, who went with Lyudmila Navalnaya to Salekhard to claim her son's remains, was held on administrative charges of disorderly conduct. He didn't offer other details other than noting his detention was "an obstruction of his work as a lawyer," per the Moscow Times.
- A prison promotion: The Daily Beast reported that Putin gave Valery Boyarinev, the deputy head of the Federal Penitentiary Service accused of tormenting Navalny while he was imprisoned, a new rank of colonel general. "This must be understood as Putin's blatant reward for torture," says Navalny ally Zhdanov.
Another Putin dissident was just
sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison. (More
Alexei Navalny stories.)
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