Navalny funeral takes place after claims of threats to undertakers

THE funeral of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was set to take place in Moscow today amid claims that undertakers had been "forbidden" from helping to organise the ceremony.

- John Dunne

It follows a battle with the authorities over the release of his body after his still-unexplained death in an Arctic penal colony two weeks ago, which many Western leaders directly blaming the Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Navalny's supporters say several churches in Moscow refused to hold the service before his team got permission from one in the capital's Maryino district, where he once lived before his 2020 poisoning, treatment in Germany and arrest on his return to Russia.

The Church of the Icon of the Mother of God Soothe My Sorrows, which agreed to hold the service, did not mention it on its social media page.