Moscow mourns Navalny. The funeral

On March 1 in Moscow, the city bid farewell to Alexei Navalny in a funeral attended by thousands. In preparation, the day prior saw Moscow police setting up metal barriers and deploying hundreds of officers around Maryino, the district in south-eastern Moscow where Navalny lived. The memorial service, held in the Church of the Icon of Our Lady Soothe My Sorrows, concluded in under 20 minutes—allegedly due to pressure from the Russian Orthodox Church on the presiding priest. Initially, only family members were permitted near the coffin. It wasn’t until after Navalny’s body was buried that the police allowed the public to approach and pay their respects. Long lines formed, stretching for several hundred meters towards the church and Borisovsky cemetery, as mourners made their way through Maryino and across the bridge. This is an account of how Moscow commemorated Alexei Navalny’s passing.

On the eve of Alexei Navalny’s funeral, Moscow saw an increase in security measures. Metal barriers were erected along the path from the Maryino metro station to the Borisovsky cemetery, where the burial of the politician was scheduled. Additionally, fences were put up around the Church of the Icon of Our Lady Soothe My Sorrows, the location for the memorial service. Navalny frequently spoke about his dedication to practicing Orthodox Christianity, even in prison.

In the Maryino area, police vans and other law enforcement vehicles were deployed. Officers were also stationed on the Brateevsky Bridge linking Maryino with Brateevo, the neighboring district with the cemetery, and along both banks of the Moskva river, where they checked pedestrians’ documents and personal belongings.

Parents of schoolchildren in Maryino were warned to keep their children in schools “for safety reasons.” “If your child needs to leave before 3:15 pm, please inform us, and in this case, it is advisable to personally meet your child at the school,” the messages stated. Schools also promised to conduct an additional lesson—a “class hour dedicated to the World Civil Defence Day,” as quoted by local residents on TV Rain.

Moscow students at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA) were also warned, facing “immediate expulsion” for participating in events on February 29 and March 1.

By the morning of March 1, Maryinsky Boulevard was shut down, with an increased presence of security forces around the church and Borisovsky cemetery. Close to the church, mobile internet service was disrupted; Telegram messages took several minutes to send, and Yandex.Maps service was unable to establish a connection at all.

By midday, approximately a thousand people had congregated at the church in anticipation of Navalny’s memorial service, eager to pay their respects. Navalny’s body was scheduled to be handed over to his family by 10 am, but there were delays. Eventually, the hearse transporting the body left for the church at around 1 pm.

In the meantime, according to an estimate by a Mediazona reporter, the line to enter the church extended for 700 meters, with more people arriving to bid farewell to Navalny. Among the attendees at the church were notable figures such as Ekaterina Duntsova and Boris Nadezhdin, both of whom had attempted to run against Vladimir Putin for the presidency but were not allowed on the ballot, former mayor of Yekaterinburg Yevgeny Roizman, diplomats from the US and the EU. Several wreaths were placed at Navalny’s soon-to-be burial site.

The vehicle carrying the body reached the church around 2 pm. For seven minutes straight, the assembled crowd broke into applause and chants of “Navalny.” A select group was permitted entry into the church grounds, prompting a call for additional security due to the large turnout.

By this point, thousands had congregated around the church, breaking into chants of “Russia will be free!” and “We will not forgive,” while holding up flowers to the sound of tolling bells.

Navalny’s supporters reported that the memorial service was unusually brief, lasting less than 20 minutes. Religious scholar Sergey Chapnin alleged that there was external pressure on the church’s priest in Maryino to significantly shorten the ceremony.

Navalny’s ally Leonid Volkov mentioned, “Based on Chapnin’s info, it appears that Father Anatoly Rodionov and the choir were pressured to expedite the memorial service, aiming to deter attendance.”

RusNews shared footage of attendees inside the church attempting to pay their final respects to Alexei Navalny. However, funeral service staff prevented them from nearing the coffin, sealing it with the explanation, “The father instructed us to close it.”

As the hearse bearing Navalny’s coffin departed the church grounds, people were drowning it in flowers.

The hearse reached Borisovsky cemetery around 3 pm, where hundreds had already assembled, and those from the church proceeded towards the same location. Marching along sidewalks to the cemetery, they voiced political slogans like “No to war!” and “Freedom for political prisoners,” forming “an unending procession from the church to the cemetery,” as noted by a Mediazona reader.

During the procession to the cemetery, the police detained at least one person.

Journalist Alexander Plyuschev shared a video on his Telegram channel, capturing the moment two riot police officers escorted a man, hands bound behind his back, towards a police van. Subsequent reports indicated two additional arrests. Following the service, Andrey Morev, the deputy chairman of Moscow’s liberal Yabloko party, was apprehended in a metro car, and Mikhail Schneider, a former deputy chairman of PARNAS party, was taken into custody at the Lyublino metro station.

Moreover, Mediazona readers observed two peculiar individuals in plain clothes who signaled the police with a ‘V’ sign with their fingers, gaining clearance through the barriers. One reader recounted that these men incited the crowd towards aggressive action, suggesting a march to the Kremlin—quite a significant distance away—and labeling the people as servile, urging immediate action. They proclaimed that redirecting the crowd towards the Kremlin could decisively resolve matters.

Alexei Navalny’s coffin was interred with Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” and the closing soundtrack from “Terminator 2”—his favorite movie—playing in the background. Initially, cemetery access was limited strictly to family members.

It wasn’t until after the burial that the cemetery gates were opened to others wishing to pay their respects, with police coordinating entry in batches of 50.

Federal TV channels did not cover the funeral, and the Kremlin “had nothing to say to Navalny’s family,” per Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

State news agencies RIA Novosti and TASS reported on the funeral, noting the presence of foreign diplomats but relegating these stories away from their front pages. They also highlighted that Navalny’s widow Yulia and children were absent from the ceremony.

On the funeral day, Yulia Navalnaya published a poignant farewell on Instagram: “We will definitely meet one day. I have so many untold stories for you, and so many songs saved on my phone, silly and funny, honestly, terrible songs, but they are about us, and I so wanted you to listen to them. And I wanted to watch you listen to them, laugh, and then hug me.”

However, some readers in Russia reported difficulties accessing this post, attributed to copyright issues with a Zemfira song included, despite using VPNs.

Around 7 pm, a cross and a photograph were placed on the grave.

Makeshift memorials to Alexei Navalny began to appear along the route from the church to the Cemetery and near the Maryino and Borisovo metro stations. People continued to walk towards the grave.

Farewells to Navalny also took place in other Russian cities. OVD-Info project reported 125 arrests at memorial events for the politician.

Editor: Dmitry Treschanin