Navalny’s team says mother barred from morgue

The mother of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been refused access to his body, his spokesperson said.

Spokesperson Kira Yarmysh said Navalny’s lawyers and his mother weren’t allowed into the morgue in the northern Russian town of Salekhard on Monday morning.

“One of the lawyers was literally pushed out. When the staff was asked if Alexei’s body was there, they did not answer,” she wrote in a social media post.

She added that the investigative committee looking into the 47-year-old’s death was extending its probe and that the cause of death was still “unknown.”

“They lie, buy time for themselves and do not even hide it,” Yarmysh said.

Navalny fell unconscious and died on Friday at the “Polar Wolf” penal colony in Kharp, about 1,900 kilometres (1,200 miles) northeast of Moscow, where he was serving a three-decade sentence, according to the prison service.

Many world leaders have blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin and his government for Navalny’s death. The Kremlin has rejected accusations that the opposition politician was murdered.

Navalny’s widow to meet EU foreign ministers

Meanwhile, Navalny’s widow Yulia is expected in Brussels on Monday, where she is to join European Union foreign ministers. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said he would welcome her.

“EU Ministers will send a strong message of support to freedom fighters in Russia and honour the memory of (Alexei) Navalny,” he wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

Yulia Navalnaya has held Russian President Putin personally responsible for her husband’s death.

“I want Putin and all his entourage, Putin’s friends and his government to know: they will bear responsibility for what they did to our country, to my family, to my husband,” she said when the death was announced on Friday.