Alexei Navalny’s widow Yulia vows to continue his cause

“My husband was unbreakable. And that's exactly why Putin killed him. Shamefully, cowardly, never daring to look him in the eye or just call his name. And just as shamefully and cowardly, they are now hiding his body, not showing it to his mother, not handing it over, and pathetically lying and waiting for traces of yet another Putin ‘Novichok’ [nerve agent] to disappear.”

“We know what exactly led Putin to kill Alexei three days ago. We'll tell you about it soon. We'll definitely find out who exactly and how exactly executed this crime. We'll name names and show faces. But the main thing we can do for Alexei and for ourselves is to keep fighting.”

Earlier today, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the investigation into the circumstances of Navalny's death was underway, adding that “all necessary actions provided for by law are being carried out.” He also added that the issue of transferring the body to relatives does not concern the Kremlin. “We are not engaged in this case,” news agency Interfax quoted Peskov as saying.

On February 19, Alexei Navalny's mother was informed by the Russian Investigative Committee that the investigation into how he died had been extended; how long it will take remains unknown. Early in the morning, Lyudmila Navalnaya and lawyers arrived at the Salekhard morgue, where the body is presumably located, but could not enter, and one lawyer was “literally pushed out.” Staff at the facility refused to answer questions.

“We went through this after the poisoning in Omsk. We went through it with belongings that were not returned after the poisoning. Time and again they extended the deadlines for the inspection and never returned anything,” wrote Anti-Corruption Foundation (ACF) director Ivan Zhdanov.