Navalny funeral live updates: Russian opposition leader to be buried amid high security

Russian authorities pressured Navalny’s family to avoid a public farewell and burial, according to his mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya. She struggled to recover the body and faced barriers renting a hall and even finding a hearse.

The European Parliament on Thursday adopted a resolution stating that Russian authorities, and Putin personally, “bear criminal and political responsibility for the death of their strongest opponent, Alexei Navalny.” His widow has called Putin a “bloody mobster.”

Hundreds of metal barriers and notices banning audio and video recording were installed Thursday at the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God Soothe My Sorrows, in Maryino, southeast Moscow, where Navalny is to be buried, local media reported. Navalny’s team, which operates in exile in Vilnius, Lithuania, had earlier announced plans to broadcast the funeral live.

Navalny’s family, including wife Yulia, daughter Dasha, son Zakhar and younger brother Oleg, as well as his whole political team live outside Russia for their safety. None are likely to attend Friday’s funeral, given recent threats by pro-Kremlin propagandists that Yulia would be arrested if she returns to Russia. Navalnaya took the unusual step of demanding that authorities not interfere in the funeral, in a post on social media.