Yulia Navalnaya has renewed her demand that the Russian authorities release her late husband’s body in a video message released on Saturday, nine days since the Russian opposition leader’s sudden death in an Arctic penal colony.
In Orthodox tradition, it is customary to offer prayers for the departed on the third, ninth and 40th day after a person’s death. Since his death was reported last Friday, Navalny’s family has repeatedly demanded his body be handed over to his mother for burial.
Navalnaya accused Putin of professing “false faith in God”, arguing that while Putin played the role of a devout Christian in public, his actions following Navalny’s death, including the attempts to intimidate Navalny’s mother into agreeing to a secret burial, have proven otherwise.
“Faith is not about kissing an icon. Faith is about goodness, mercy, salvation. And no true Christian could ever do what Putin is doing now with Alexey’s body,” Navalnaya said, adding that while her husband had been a religious man, his faith had “nothing to do with Putin’s obscurantism”.
“What Putin is doing now is hatred. No, it’s not even hatred, it’s some kind of Satanism, paganism. What are you going to do with his body? How low will you stoop, mocking the man you killed?” Navalnaya asked.
Navalnaya also referenced Putin’s use of “traditional values” and “faith in God” as justifications for invading Ukraine, and accused him of “bombing civilians as they sleep at night with church-consecrated missiles”.
“You are breaking every law, both human and God’s,” she concluded.
