Police in Russia detained hundreds of people at protests against Navalny's death

Police detained a man trying to lay flowers to Alexei Navalny at the monument to the first Gulag camp in St. Petersburg, Russia, Saturday, February 17. Photo: DMITRY LOVETSKY/AP/AP

But Kremlin officials dismantled many of these memorials as quickly as they appeared. Video posted on Telegram showed hooded men pulling out red carnations and throwing them into trash bags.

Police in riot gear also cordoned off monuments to Soviet repression that were used by mourners to show support for Navalny.< /p>

Although the death of 47-year-old Navalny was reported in newspapers around the world on Saturday morning, Russian state media largely ignored it.

Analysts said it was part of the Kremlin's strategy to minimize the impact of the death of one of Vladimir Putin's most dangerous opponents a month before the presidential election.

Russian prison officials said Navalny died after a fall. fell ill during a short walk on Friday at the Arctic Correctional Facility. Although the cause of death has not been established, Navalny's colleagues in exile confirmed that their leader had died.

«Navalny was killed,» said Maria Pevchikh, chairwoman of the Navalny Anti-Corruption Foundation. “Alexey will live forever in millions of hearts, in our thoughts and memories.”

Anti-Corruption Group

A prison doctor said Navalny died of a blood clot and could not be resuscitated, but a lawyer for Navalny's anti-corruption group said the cause of death could not be determined.

Navalny's mother also said that she was unable to find her son's body, which , they were told, was in the Salekhard morgue, not far from the IK-3 colony where he died.

“It was closed, despite the fact that the prison stated that it was open and Navalny’s body was there.” , Navalny’s team reported on Telegram.

In the West, leaders accused the Kremlin of killing Navalny, who was sentenced to three decades in prison. is in prison for various financial and extremist crimes that his supporters say were fabricated in retaliation for leading anti-Kremlin protests.

Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron said the people responsible for Navalny's death should be punished «Where such horrendous human rights violations occur, there must be consequences,» he said.