Alexei Navalny funeral: Crowds of mourners in Moscow chant ‘Putin is a murderer’, ‘Russia without Putin’ and ‘No to war’ – latest | Ukraine

It has just gone 6pm in Kyiv and 7pm in Moscow. Here are latest updates on Friday:

• Thousands of mourners gathered on Friday for the funeral service of Russia’s most prominent Putin critic, Alexei Navalny in Moscow. Crowds were heard shouting “Navalny, Navalny!” when the hearse carrying his coffin arrived at the Quench My Sorrows church in the Maryino district.

• Among the large crowd, many people clutched bunches of flowers and some joined in chants – “Russia will be free”, “No to war”, “Russia without Putin”, “We won’t forgive” and “Putin is a murderer”, reported Reuters. The news agency said that while police were present in large numbers, they did not intervene.

• Anatoly Navalny and Lyudmila Navalnay, Alexei’s parents, attended the service but his widow, Yulia, his son, Zakhar, and daughter, Dash, did not as they live outside Russia for their safety. Navalny’s mother was seen being approached by mourners and supporters who hugged her and said “thank you” as she left the church with her husband.

• “I don’t know how to live without you,” said Yulia Navalnaya in a goodbye message posted on X to her husband, Alexei. She thanked him for “26 years of absolute happiness” and posted a video of clips showing them together.

• More than a quarter of a million people watched the farewell to Navalny on his YouTube channel, which is blocked inside Russia. According to Reuters, state media gave scant coverage to the funeral.

• The Kremlin said on Friday that any unsanctioned gatherings in support of Navalny would violate the law. In a call with reporters, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov declined to give any assessment of Navalny as a political figure and said he had nothing to say to Navalny’s family.

• Western diplomats, including ambassadors from the US, Germany and France were also present at Navalny’s funeral service on Friday. Flowers, candles and pictures were also laid in memory of Navalny in cities outside Russia, such as in Berlin, Munich, Amsterdam, London and Tbilisi.

• The BBC reported that at least two people, including an opposition politician, were detained during and after Navalny’s funeral. The broadcaster cited media reports. Russian authorities have not publicly commented on the issue.

• Russia is ready to hand over the bodies of the victims of a January military plane crash to Ukraine, the RIA news agency cited Russian human rights official Tatyana Moskalkova as saying on Friday. Moscow accuses Kyiv of downing the Ilyushin Il-76 plane in Russia’s Belgorod region and killing 74 people on board, including 65 captured Ukrainian soldiers en route to be swapped for Russian prisoners of war, but it has not presented evidence.

• Ukraine’s president Voldymyr Zelenskiy and Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte signed a security guarantee deal on Friday in the north-eastern frontline city of Kharkiv. Zelenskiy said that the document includes €2bn ($2.2bn/£1.7bn) in military aid from the Netherlands this year, as well as further defence assistance over the next 10 years.

• Three people were killed in a drone attack on a car in the Russia-controlled part of Ukraine’s Kherson region, Russia-installed governor Vladimir Saldo said on Friday. Saldo did not provide any details of the attack.

• Polish farmers protested on the border with Lithuania on Friday against what they say are imports of Ukrainian grain through the Baltic country, something Vilnius denies.

• Alexander Stubb hailed a new era in foreign policy as he was inaugurated as Finland’s new president. The 55-year-old former prime minister, who took over from two-term president Sauli Niinistö on Friday, said Finland will do well as a nation if it remains united.

• Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov was in Turkey, which has sought to revive Russia-Ukraine peace talks and ways to ensure safe navigation in the Black Sea. Reports said he would attend part of the annual diplomatic forum in the Mediterranean resort of Antalya where he is to meet Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and foreign minister Hakan Fidan.

• Russia’s defence ministry said that it had successfully test fired a Yars intercontinental ballistic nuclear missile, state news agency Tass reported.

• Ukraine exported a record 8m tons of freight, including 5.2 m tonnes of agricultural products, via its Black Sea corridor in February, deputy prime minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said on Friday.

• A Russian man pleaded guilty on Thursday to illegally exporting electronics to Russia for possible military use, in violation of sanctions imposed after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, the US Department of Justice (DoJ) said.

The BBC are reporting that at least two people, including an opposition politician, were detained during and after the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s funeral in Moscow on Friday.

Citing media reports, the BBC said several people were also held in the cites of Ekaterinburg and Novosibirsk in central Russia. The BBC added that the Russian authorities have not publicly commented on the reports.

Miranda Bryant

Alexander Stubb hailed a new era in foreign policy as he was inaugurated as Finland’s new president.

The 55-year-old former prime minister, who took over from two-term president Sauli Niinistö on Friday, said Finland will do well as a nation if it remains united.

Stubb, who ran as a candidate for the centre-right National Coalition party, beating Green former foreign minister Pekka Haavisto, said in his inauguration speech:

Thanks to unity, we have had the ability to react at turning points in history in a unified, fast and firm manner. For my part, I want to nurture and strengthen this unity.”

He then shook hands with the government and civil servants, including speaker of the parliament, Jussi Halla-aho, of the far-right Finns party, who came third in the presidential election.

Finland’s now former president, Niinistö, who oversaw Finland’s record speed Nato membership, said:

This country has indeed been built upon certain values. Upon trust in ourselves and in others, upon taking responsibility for ourselves and others, each according to our ability, and upon having a sense of what’s right and wrong.”

He later thanked his nation for its trust:

Ukraine’s president Voldymyr Zelenskiy and Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte signed a security guarantee deal on Friday in the north-eastern frontline city of Kharkiv, reports Reuters.

Zelenskiy said in a social media post on X that the document includes €2bn ($2.2bn/£1.7bn) in military aid from the Netherlands this year, as well as further defence assistance over the next 10 years.

“I am grateful to prime minister Rutte for this agreement, which will strengthen the protection of Ukraine, including the city of Kharkiv, where we met today,” Zelenskiy said.

“According to the document, the Netherlands also supports Ukraine’s future membership in the EU and Nato,” added Zelenskiy.

Three people were killed in a drone attack on a car in the Russia-controlled part of Ukraine’s Kherson region, Reuters reported, citing the Russia-installed governor Vladimir Saldo on Friday.

Saldo did not provide any details of the attack.

Reuters report that many thousands of people turned out to pay their respects at the Borisovskyoe cemetery and outside the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God in Moscow.

Among the large crowd, many people clutched bunches of flowers and some joined in chants – “Russia will be free”, “No to war”, “Russia without Putin”, “We won’t forgive” and “Putin is a murderer”, reports the news agency. It also said that while police were present in large numbers, they did not intervene.

According to the news agency, more than a quarter of a million people watched the farewell to the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny on his YouTube channel, which is blocked inside Russia. Messages, mostly expressing sadness but some also defiance, streamed down beside the video, it said.

Navalny’s top aides, all based outside Russia, struggled to contain their emotions as they broadcast live video of the farewell to their leader.

“This is a photograph that is very hard to look at,” said one of them, Ruslan Shaveddinov, referring to an image of Navalny’s mother, Lyudmila inside the church next to her son’s open casket.

In video streamed from the cemetery, Navalny’s mother and father, Anatoly, stooped over his open coffin to kiss him for the last time as a small group of musicians played. Crossing themselves, mourners stepped forward to caress his face before a priest gently placed a white shroud over him and the coffin was closed.

According to Reuters, state media gave scant coverage to the funeral. The RIA news agency reported the fact of Navalny’s burial, noting the presence of foreign envoys including the US, French and German ambassadors, and recalled that he had been jailed on a host of charges including fraud, contempt of court and extremism.

Navalny denied all those charges, saying they had been trumped up by the authorities to silence his criticism of Russian president Vladimir Putin.

The widow of Alexei Navalny, Yulia Navalnaya, posted a goodbye message to her late husband on X.

“Lyosha” is the familiar short form or nickname for Alexei. It is translated from Russian by Google:

Lyosha, thank you for 26 years of absolute happiness. Yes, even over the last three years of happiness. For love, for always supporting me, for making me laugh even from prison, for the fact that you always thought about me.

I don’t know how to live without you, but I will try to make you up there happy for me and proud of me. I don’t know if I can handle it or not, but I will try.

We will definitely meet one day. I have so many untold stories for you, and I have so many songs saved for you on my phone, stupid and funny, in general, to be honest, terrible songs, but they are about us, and I really wanted to let you listen to them. And I really wanted to watch you listen to them, laugh, and then hug me.

Love you forever. Rest in peace.

Pjotr Sauer

Thousands of mourners gathered in front of a church in Moscow as the funeral service for Russia’s most prominent Putin critic, Alexei Navalny, began.

Crowds were heard shouting “Navalny, Navalny!” when the hearse carrying his coffin arrived at the Quench My Sorrows church in the Maryino district, where the late opposition leader used to live, on Friday.

A long queue formed, under a heavy police presence, near the church where Navalny, who died last month in a notorious “Polar Wolf” penal colony in the Russian Arctic, was being remembered before his burial at a cemetery about a mile and a half away.

Russian authorities claim Navalny fell unconscious and died suddenly aged 47 after a walk. His team and his widow, Yulia, have accused Vladimir Putin of murdering him.

Western diplomats, including ambassadors from the US, Germany and France were also present on Friday. The Kremlin had earlier warned that any unsanctioned gatherings in support of the late Russian opposition would be met with arrests.

Ivan, a Navalny supporter waiting in line, said: “I feel pain, like any other person who came here. I have come to say bye to a real leader. He was the best of us. He told us not to be scared, and it’s our duty to be here. I am not scared. My fear had evaporated a long time ago.”

You can read Pjotr’s full piece here:

Ivan Zhdanov, a top ally of the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, said that Navalny’s coffin had arrived at Moscow’s Borisovskoye cemetery where he is due to be buried, according to Reuters.

Crowds of people can be seen, via the Alexei Navalny YouTube channel live stream, walking over to the cemetery holding flowers.