Yulia Navalnaya leads tributes to late husband on first anniversary of his death

Events were held both in and outside Russia on Sunday to mark the first anniversary of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny’s sudden death in prison, with tributes being led by his widow, Yulia Navalnaya.

Expressing her gratitude to “everyone who remembers Alexey” and to those who had supported her over the past year in a video message on YouTube, Navalnaya said: “Putin didn’t just want to break my husband; he wanted to break each and every one of us.”

“We know exactly what we are fighting for, the Russia of the future that Alexey dreamed of. A free, peaceful, beautiful Russia is possible. Let’s do everything we can to make his dream come true,” Navalnaya continued.

In Moscow, law enforcement officers made no attempts to prevent well wishers laying flowers at Navalny’s grave at the Borisovsky Cemetery, although some photographers without press accreditation were asked to leave. Nevertheless, those who visited the grave were filmed by counterterrorism officers, according to independent news outlet SOTAvision.

US Ambassador Lynne Tracy, EU Ambassador Roland Galharague, British Ambassador Nigel Casey and Australian Ambassador John Geering also attended the cemetery to pay their respects on the anniversary.

Outside the Russian capital, however, there were reports of police harassing those attempting to mark the event, with intimidation tactics used against those attempting to lay flowers in the Siberian cities of Novosibirsk and Barnaul, and the Volga region city of Yoshkar-Ola.

Navalny supporters even gathered as far away as Australia to honour Navalny, with a bench dedicated to his memory in the Royal Botanic Garden in Sydney becoming a focal point for mourners.

Some 18 Western countries issued a joint appeal to the Russian government requesting that it use the first anniversary of Navalny’s death to release the over 800 other political prisoners currently in Russian jails, the British Foreign Office said on Sunday.

“The Russian authorities must uphold their international obligations and release all political prisoners,” the appeal read, promising “to stand with civil society and human rights activists working tirelessly to build a better future for Russia in the face of immense personal risk”.