Navalny's body returned to mother

The body of leading Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny has been returned to his mother, reported British Broadcaster Corporation (BBC), quoting his spokeswoman.

In a post on X, Kira Yarmysh thanked everybody who had demanded that the authorities hand over his remains.

"The funeral is yet to take place," she wrote.

Navalny's mother Lyudmila had reportedly been told to agree to a "secret" burial. If she refused, he would be buried at the prison colony where he died, the BBC added.

Russia's most significant opposition leader for the past decade, Alexei Navalny, has died in an Arctic Circle jail.

Finland on February 19 summoned the Russian Ambassador to Helsinki following the death of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny inside the prison on February 16.

Earlier in August, Navalny was sent to another 19 years imprisonment, which was termed by Finland politically motivated.

Three years have passed since the assassination attempt through poisoning of Navalny on 20 August 2020 in Russia by using a toxic nerve agent of the “Novichok” group, banned under the Chemical Weapons Convention, to which the Russian Federation is a State Party.

Earlier in 2021, the then Prime Minister and Foreign Minister protested the prison sentence of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny when he was sentenced to 3.5 years of imprisonment.