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9 min ago
Mourners in Europe, US pay tribute to Navalny
MOSCOW - Supporters of Alexei Navalny turned out across Europe and in the United States to pay tribute to the man widely acknowledged as Russia's main opposition figure, even when he was behind bars.
Navalny's death was announced earlier in the day by officials in the Arctic prison where he was serving a 19-year sentence.
From New York and Washington to cities in western Europe to capitals of former Soviet bloc states, mourners showed their respect for Navalny, a charismatic lawyer who rallied domestic opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Many were quick to blame Navalny's death on Putin.
In Warsaw, about 100 people demonstrated outside the Russian embassy. Most were young and visibly upset.
In Switzerland, around 300 people attended an impromptu gathering outside Zurich's train station, while more than 100 gathered in front of the United Nations in Geneva, carrying portraits of Navalny and white flowers.
And in Moscow too, small groups of Russians laid flowers at makeshift memorials.
Images on social media showed dozens queueing to place flowers at monuments to victims of political repression in the cities of Moscow and Saint Petersburg.
The shock announcement of Navalny's death came a day before official campaigning starts in what critics say will be a stage-managed presidential election in March that will extend 71-year-old Putin's two-decade hold on power.
Navalny barely survived a poisoning with the Soviet-designed nerve agent Novichok in 2020. Following treatment in Germany, he returned to Russia in 2021 and was immediately arrested and subsequently jailed.