MOSCOW — In the weeks since Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny died suddenly in an Arctic prison, the simple act of laying flowers — at his graveside or makeshift memorials — has become an act of political defiance.
Wartime Russia brooks no dissent.
When he was alive, Navalny, an anti-corruption and pro-democracy activist, had urged his followers not to be afraid as they struggled for what he called a free and “happy” Russia of the future.
Thousands of Russians mourn Alexei Navalny despite police presence
On Saturday, one day after he was laid to rest at a Moscow cemetery, mourners, many of them carrying bouquets, were still braving the police to pay their respects.
But in today’s Russia, freedom and happiness have never seemed further away.
“I want to scream in anger,” said Tamara, 34, who visited the grave Saturday, only to be quickly ushered away by police. “But I have hope,” she said, declining to give her full name out of concerns of reprisal by authorities. “Of course there is hope.”
Navalny, who died in prison on Feb. 16 at age 47, mobilized a younger generation to take to the streets and demand a better Russia.
As such, he was despised by President Vladimir Putin and ultimately jailed on an array of spurious charges, including extremism, for his role as the head of a foundation that exposed corruption.
For many of those who trekked to his graveside Friday and Saturday, Navalny was Russia’s last democratic hope, at a time when the country was plunging deeper into authoritarianism.
For Putin nemesis Alexei Navalny, long-feared death arrives in Arctic prison
In the two years since Russia invaded Ukraine, initiating a bloody war against its neighbor, the state has grown increasingly repressive and paranoid as it cracks down on dissent. Thousands have fled to neighboring countries and the rest of the population has been terrified into silence.
Navalny, an ordinary, middle-class Russian, had galvanized a mass movement under the simple slogan, “Russia is free.” He led nationwide protests in an extraordinary challenge to Putin, who has ruled Russia either as president or prime minister for 25 years.
But now, Navalny is gone, dying mysteriously at one of Russia’s most isolated prisons, where authorities suggested he died of natural causes. Navalny’s wife, family and friends say that Putin is responsible for his death.
“I do not see any light in this darkness,” said Anna, 47.
On Saturday, she caught the metro and then a bus to the Borisovsky Cemetery, nestled in the Moscow suburb, Maryino, where Navalny grew up. She prepared a backpack of water, snacks, warm clothes and her passport in case she was detained.
“It is even more difficult to live in Russia now without him,” she said, also declining to give her full name out of fear of reprisal by authorities. “Nobody wants to talk about how bad the situation is, everyone is scared, and they are trying to maintain a fragile balance within themselves.”
After a strong show of force at Navalny’s funeral on Friday, where law enforcement hemmed in mourners and divided the crowds, police were back at the cemetery Saturday. They had rearranged their barricades and set up metal detectors fitted with cameras — a signal to those at the gravesite that their faces would be logged in the government’s sprawling surveillance system.
Masked police officers manned the entrance, checking people’s bags. Plainclothes security agents hustled the procession along and anyone standing for longer than a couple of minutes was ordered to leave.
“No, you can’t light candles here, they will cause a fire,” one police officer barked at a mourner.
Most people there were openly weeping, some breaking down upon seeing Navalny’s smiling portrait on his tombstone, submerged by heaps of roses and carnations. One couple held each other. Another person wiped away the tears of a friend, making sure her makeup didn’t smudge.
One older man stood to the side with his face to the wall, hiding his sobs.
“Everything is getting worse and worse,” said Anna. “We need a miracle.”
But others wouldn’t give in to total despair. Irina, 30, went with her mother to the cemetery Saturday to lay flowers for Navalny.
“Alexei was all about hope, about the beautiful Russia of the future,” she said. “And look at how many people there are here.”
Irina was also from Maryino, a district of high-rises, malls and parks on a stretch of the Moskva River, in Moscow’s northeast. Navalny lived here in a three-bedroom apartment with his wife and family — a residence authorities would later seize.
But for Navalny, it was always home. “Today, Maryino has become the center of Russia,” Irina said.
Tamara, who wore a red headscarf, said she was proud of her fellow Russians for turning out to grieve a man who was hated by the state. Neither Putin nor Russian state media mentioned Navalny’s funeral.
“For the longest time, propaganda told us that the majority only care about their basic needs — putting food on the table and that’s it,” she said. “What we saw yesterday showed that so many people still have their heads.”
“They still have a bit of bravery, the kind of bravery that Alexei tried to teach us,” she said, adding, “As it turns out, we are still alive inside.”