Lord, have mercy

Tens of thousands of people came to say goodbye to Alexei Navalny - not afraid of anyone and nothing. Medusa correspondents tell how it was

In Moscow on March 1, they said goodbye to Alexei Navalny. Around 14:00, the funeral service began in the church of the icon of the Mother of God “satisfied my sorrows” in the Maryino area, where the politician used to live. Inward, mostly relatives and relatives were allowed, and the service itself lasted less than 20 minutes ( according to Navalny's associates, Anatoly Rodionov was pressed on the rector of the church so that the ceremony would take as little time as possible). Then the coffin was taken to the Borisov cemetery, where Navalny was buried. On the way, people - and tens of thousands of thousands, despite the threats of the authorities, went to the streets - they threw the heat on the flowers, chanted "Navalny!" And "Thank you!" All day in Maryin worked correspondents and photographers "Medusa". They tell and show how the country said goodbye to its main independent politician of the 21st century.

To the temple of the icon of the Mother of God “satisfied my sorrows” in Maryino people pulled out in the early morning. Already a few hours before the funeral service, at least a thousand people came to say goodbye to Alexei Navalny, some came from other cities.

All of them crowded at the gate: the entrance to the territory of the temple was blocked by metal fences - such security forces are usually exposed during rallies. The fences also stretched along the Bratevsky bridge, through which the road passes from the church to the Borisov cemetery, where the politics decided to bury - it is in half an hour.

People with mourning bouquets and prayers in their hands filled not only the territory near the temple, but also the nearest metro stations. In the wagons of trains running along the salad branch towards the Maryino station, it was unusually crowded for this time of the day. It smelled of greenery: passengers with flowers could be found in each composition. Big bouquets were held in their hands, and several flowers tied with a mourning ribbon. The sad girl at the end of the train car, who went from the Pechatniki station towards Maryino, put a white chrysanthemum on the window.

Before the funeral

At the Maryino station, the wagons empty - most of the passengers came out here. In the center of the hall, they were met by a group of police officers and people in black without identification signs, but with walkie -talkies on the chest; In the transitions - security forces in complete uniforms: balaclavs, helmets, batons, knee pads. Many went out to the station earlier, at Bratislavskaya. There, the crowd undressed: one part went to the temple along the street, the other tried to cut through the yards.

On the way to the church, security forces marched in blue winter costumes. Every 10-20 meters stood small groups of police officers. “Dear citizens, some goodbye - turn left, bypassing,” one of them repeated again and again and again. “I can’t pass it on to the people, damn it,” the woman said in a telephone pipe, wandering through a dense human stream.

The crowd grew. An hour before the funeral, the line of those who wanted to say goodbye to the politician stretched per kilometer and increased with every minute. To the where it ended, they did not finish the “jammers” of the mobile Internet - but on the approaches to the temple the network disappeared. People were mostly silent or in an undertone spoke with each other.

Many put on medical masks or sunglasses. Of every two dozen people, at least one hid his face. "Glory to Alexei Navalny!" -shouted someone in the tail of the line. Such shouts were heard every few minutes.

The crowd passed the empty board of ads with the inscription "Elections", stuck in one of the houses. On the same path - dentistry "President"; Having caught up with her, many took photos.

“It is necessary to bury it in the light of day, and it gets dark now early. [After all, there are two more hours in total, - alarmed female voice came in the crowd. “Eh, we won’t have time, we won’t get it ...” He was interrupted by the annoyed male: “It doesn’t matter! Yul, this is not important. In a hundred meters we or five kilometers ... It is important to just be here. "

A group of security forces passed by the line without identification marks. Following her is a middle -aged man who shouted to the crowd: “Hey, what are you standing, fucking? My will, I would have shot you all! " No one answered him. An elderly woman in a scarf, as if nothing had happened, continued to distribute memorial sweets.

About two in the afternoon, the motorcade with the body of Alexei Navalny drove up to the church. In the crowd, among others, European diplomats were waiting, including ambassadors of the USA, France and Germany, as well as several Russian politicians - Ekaterina Duntsov, Evgeny Roizman and Boris Nadezhdin. Some of them held armfuls of red carnations and roses.

Ritual service employees carefully took out the coffin from the car with the ritual sticker. Four men with red bandages on their sleeves carried a coffin with the body of Alexei Navalny to applause and screams “Navalny! Navalny! " Removing the mourning procession on the phones, people in the crowd cried.

Following the steps of the church, the parents of the politician - Lyudmila and Anatoly rose. Those who came to say goodbye to Navalny began to be launched into the territory of the temple. Someone said: "They wanted to ban, but the procession turned out more than the quarter."

In the church

A coffin was installed in the church and a lid was removed from it, so that close ones were inside them, in addition to them, few could say goodbye to Navalny. He was lying in the folds of white fabric, which leaned the coffin from the inside. On the forehead there is an Orthodox corolla, on the coverlet - armfuls of red roses and white tulips.

Lyudmila and Anatoly Navalny sat next to the coffin, photographers and those who managed to get into the temple lined up behind them. Many held candles.

The priest began a memorial service: “On the cross we lay down, the martyrs of the face gathered to himself, if you are like your passion, blessed. We pray the same: the reputation is the reputation to you. ” In the coffin at this time, flowers continued to lay.

When the priest finished, they turned on the recording of a memorial lithium - the “eternal memory” performed by the church choir. Bending over the coffin, the priest in an undertone explained something to Lyudmila Navalny, she nodded. Then he put the icon in the coffin. Soon - the funeral service lasted no more than 20 minutes - the altars ordered to close the lid.

There were shouts of those who did not have time to approach the coffin: “Let me say goodbye!”, “Well, please!”, “For God's sake!”, “Wait!” Ignoring them, men in black and with red bandages surrounded the coffin and began to quickly remove flowers from it. “The priest said to close,” someone said. A female crying sounded over the crowd: “Rest in peace. Sorry, I'm sorry they didn’t save it. ”

At half past three, they hit the bell, and a coffin was taken out of the church. The ones who came to say goodbye were applauded and again began to chant "Navalny!" By this time, the line to the temple stretched more than one and a half kilometers.

The coffin was loaded into the car. People from all sides threw it with flowers. Somewhere in the crowd, not far from the main gate of the temple, prayers sang. They were occasionally interrupted by shouts: "Heroes do not die!"

Under the applause of the hearse, showered with flowers, drove towards the cemetery. After him, it was heard : "Thank you!"

The road to the cemetery

"All in the cemetery!" - shouted a man at the church fence. The crowd turned around and moved in a dense stream towards the Brotherian bridge. Somewhere the girls sang “Christ Risen from the Dead” , and the cries of “Navalny!” Were heard People moved along the fences, through the police in complete uniform, a string of autosaks, empty electric buses and the crews of the horse police.

“You look, all the faces are hiding,” said a woman of about sixty.

-Do they really think something will be? Immediately people are all cultural, ”a man of about forty answered her.

- Yes, because the power has not yet changed.

In front of one of the pedestrian crossings, the guy in a gray jacket moved aside a metal fence that interferes with the crowd, and it fell with a roar. The Rosgvardists who stood nearby handed over to colleagues in the radio a request to raise him. “Oh, excuse me, they accidentally dropped it,” the young people said almost giggling, running around the road. Nobody stopped them.

“We work more actively in Megaphone,” came from the police radio. But the security forces themselves seemed to not quite understand what to do, and politely prompted those who asked. People walked past them with a continuous fast stream.

The cars passing by the cars signaling. In response, people applauded and waved flowers. “Young people, you are abnormal,” an elderly woman with a Bolone bag in her hands shook her head.

Several people tried to cut the way through the snowdrifts in order to climb the fences, but police officers ran to them from the cemetery. Someone shouted: "Shucher!" - And the crowd continued the movement as before.

In the stream, they tried to figure out how many people came to say goodbye to Navalny.

- There is two hundred meters a thousand people. Two hundred and five [meters] in length. A kilometer - already five thousand [man]. And how many kilometers are there! - the man reasoned aloud.

“Yes, these are not thousands of people, these are tens of thousands,” the interlocutor answered him.

- And if there was no fear, how much would have come? And if they also spent everything normally, as expected?

At this time, the woman screamed at this time: “Let us already say goodbye to us, and we will leave!” The crowd began to chant: "Navalny!" And "He is alive in our hearts!"

- Putin said : "His death will cause us more troubles than good." So it happened! -reasoned someone in the crowd.

- And still killed. Killed, - came back.

Not far from the cemetery, two children - a boy of about seven in a blue jacket and a girl for about three years in pink - played their hands. Looking at them, a mother holding a mourning bouquet in her hands, smiled. “What small ones and also came to say goodbye! - a tall elderly woman passing by was touched. “God forbid at least they will live to a happy Russia of the future.” “Yes, they have a chance,” the gray -haired man answered from the crowd.

The stream of people moved past the spontaneous memorial, which appeared about a kilometer from the cemetery: flowers and church candles stuck into the snowdrift. Soon, notes began to put on the snow: “Spring will come, and we will do it,” “Navalny is the Hero of Russia”, “Alyosha, you are our light”, “Alexey, thanks for everything.” “That's all of Russia,” one of the passing by. “Dirty snowdrift and flowers.”

Cemetery

In the cemetery, relatives were the last time they saw Navalny. The coffin was closed and lowered into the grave covered with spruce. At this time, Frank Sinatra "My Way" played. Then a musical theme sounded from the second part of the “Terminator” - Navalny loved this film very much and called it the “greatest”.

“Oh, music from the Terminator plays,” someone said.

- So, he will return.

The crowd without a break was chanted "Pass!" - The security forces were launched in the cemetery only in small groups. Those who managed to enter took handfuls of the earth from a special container and threw them on the coffin cover. The earth fell with a deaf knock.

Suddenly, the police began to unfold with the words: "The cemetery was closed." But people did not want to leave, they shouted "We will not leave!" And "There is no war!" Soon the passage to the grave was again opened, and parents with young children were allowed out of turn.

On a metal fence near the cemetery, someone wrote a black marker: “Navalny Lech 1976–2024”. “Let's thank Alexei for everything that he did for us,” a voice came. - Thank you, Alexey! ”

“Thank you, Alexey! Thank you!" - answered the crowd.

A wooden cross was installed on the grave of Navalny, to which a black and white photograph of a politician was attached-on it it is a half-broth. By this time, those who came to say goodbye to Alexei Navalny brought so many flowers that they fell on the grave with a huge heavy pile. People all walked and walked: lingering for a moment, baptized or bowed. A man standing next to a suit every 10 seconds reminded: “Please go further. Everyone wants to say goodbye. "

-Why did he return? - sobbing, said the girl at the exit from the cemetery.

“He returned for this,” the man answered her, “and nodded to the line.”

"Medusa" , Moscow