Alexei Navalny’s mother has been told she must wait 14 days to receive her son’s body as authorities conduct a “chemical examination”, his spokesperson and allies have said.
The move will raise suspicions that the leading Vladimir Putin critic was poisoned, with his wife Yulia Navalnaya alleging on Monday that the Kremlin is waiting for traces of the Novichok nerve agent to disappear from his body – as she vowed to reveal the names of his killers.
In a video message on Monday, as she met with EU foreign ministers in Brussel, Ms Navalnaya said: “Vladimir Putin killed my husband ... We know exactly why Putin killed Alexei three days ago. We will tell you about it soon.”
The bruised body of the Putin critic is believed to have been delivered to a morgue at the Salekhard District Clinical Hospital, an anonymous experienced paramedic told the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta Europe.
However, Mr Navalny’s mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, and his lawyers were blocked from accessing the morgue on Monday morning, his spokesperson Kira Yarmysh wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
