The Kremlin says widow Yulia's accusations that Navalny was poisoned with a nerve agent are “baseless and vulgar.”
The mother of late Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny has demanded that President Vladimir Putin hand over his body so he can be buried.
“I appeal to you, Vladimir Putin. Solving this problem depends solely on you. Let me finally see my son,” Lyudmila Navalnaya said in a video message on Tuesday, making her plea as the Kremlin denied any involvement in Navalny’s death on February 16 while serving time in the “Polar Wolf” penal colony on the Arctic. Circle.
In a video filmed outside the prison, Navalny's mother said she did not even know where her son's body was.
“For the fifth day I cannot see him, they do not give me his body and they do not even tell me where it is,” he said, adding that he demanded that his body be “immediately released so that he can be buried humanely.” ”.
On Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded to allegations made by Yulia Navalnaya, Navalny's widow, that her 47-year-old husband had been poisoned with a nerve agent, calling them “baseless and vulgar.”
Peskov, who said he was “not familiar” with Navalnaya's statement made in a video speech released Monday, declined to comment further, saying he was “taking into account that Yulia Navalnaya was widowed just a few days ago.” The Kremlin said Putin had not seen her video statement.
In her video, three days after her husband's death and less than a month before Russia's presidential election, Navalnaya signaled her determination to fight for a “free Russia.”
He said authorities had not yet handed over Navalny's body to his elderly mother because they were waiting for traces of the Novichok nerve agent to leave his body.
Navalny's allies have quoted a Russian investigator as saying that authorities need at least 14 days to conduct various chemical tests on his body and therefore cannot hand him over yet.
Navalnaya also called on the European Union not to recognize the results of the presidential elections, scheduled for March 15-17, which are sure to give Putin another six-year term.
“A president who assassinated his main political opponent cannot be legitimate by definition,” Navalnaya said in her speech.
Putin has warned that there will be a strong response if foreign powers try to interfere in the elections.
Research calls rejected
Peskov on Monday rejected the EU's call for an “international investigation” into Navalny's death following talks in Brussels with Navalnaya organized by EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.
“We do not accept such demands in general, and even less so from Mr. Borrell,” Peskov said.
The West and Navalny's supporters say Putin is responsible for Navalny's death. The Kremlin has denied involvement and said Western claims that Putin was responsible were unacceptable.
Putin has not made any public comments on Navalny's death, but it has further deepened the schism in relations between Moscow and the West caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Asked about the hundreds of arrests of Russians at events mourning Navalny's death in recent days, Peskov said: “Law enforcement agencies are acting in accordance with the law.”
Russian authorities say Navalny became unconscious and died suddenly after a walk through the penal colony.
