Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected the allegations of a cover-up, telling reporters that “these are shameless and completely unfounded accusations against the Russian head of state.”
Deputy Director of the Russian Prison Service Valery Boyarinev.credit: Russian media
Putin has not commented publicly on Navalny's death. On Monday, he signed a decree promoting a number of law enforcement and military officials, including Valery Boyarinev, first deputy head of the State Prison Service. Navalny's team accused Boyarinev, who held the rank of colonel-general, of personally ordering restrictions on the opposition leader.
Peskov denied any connection between Navalny's death and Boyarinev's new rank.
Navalny's death has deprived the Russian opposition of its most famous and inspiring politician less than a month before elections that are certain to give Putin another six years in power. Many Russians had viewed Navalny as a rare hope for political change amid Putin's ongoing crackdown on dissent.
In the video she posted on Monday, Yulia Navalnaya pledged to continue her fight against the Kremlin. On Tuesday, her X account, where she posted the video, was briefly suspended by the platform without explanation but was later restored.
In a speech on Monday to the European Union's Foreign Affairs Council, she urged EU leaders not to recognize the results of next month's elections, to impose sanctions on more of Putin's allies and to help Russians fleeing the country. Navalny's spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh released a copy of her remarks on Tuesday.
The White House said it was preparing additional “major sanctions” on Russia in response to Navalny's death, and National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the new package would be unveiled Friday.
White House spokesman John Kirby also said that the Biden administration is aware of the arrest in Russia of a ballet dancer who is a dual Russian-American citizen, and is seeking information about her.
Russia's main security agency said on Tuesday it had arrested a ballerina on charges of committing state treason by raising money for Ukraine, Russia's National Security Agency said. The New York Times. Separately, media reports identified her as Ksenia Karelina, who was arrested in Yekaterinburg.
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Navalny, 47, has been imprisoned since January 2021 when he returned to Moscow after recovering in Germany from a nerve agent poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin. He has received three prison sentences since then, on charges he dismissed as politically motivated.
Since Navalny's death, about 400 people have been detained across Russia as they tried to honor him with flowers and candles, according to the group OVD-Info, which monitors political arrests.
OVD-Info said that more than 60,000 people have submitted requests to the government demanding that Navalny's remains be handed over to his relatives.
After the last sentence, which led to 19 years in prison, Navalny said he understood that he was “serving a life sentence, which is measured by the length of my life or the length of this regime.”
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called for an international investigation into Navalny's death, but Peskov said the Kremlin would not agree to such a request.
AP, Reuters
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