Alexei Navalny’s lawyer is arrested in Moscow days after helping Putin critic’s mother recover her ‘murdered’ son’s body

A lawyer who represented late opposition politician Alexei Navalny and accompanied his mother last week when she appealed to authorities for the return of his body was arrested today in Moscow, Russian news media said.

Vasili Dubkov’s arrest on charges of “violating public order” was first reported by independent Russian news channel Novaya Gazeta Europe, although Russian authorities have not yet confirmed the lawyer’s arrest.

Dubkov played a key role in efforts to recover Alexei Navalny’s corpse from Russian authorities after he died on February 16 at the IK-3 penal colony in Siberia after falling ill while out for a walk.

Russian authorities refused to release his body so that his grieving mother, Lyudmila, could bury him unless she agreed to lay him to rest in a private ceremony.

Dubkov was photographed accompanying Lyudmila to several meetings with Russia’s Investigative Committee in the days following the dissident’s death, which many around the world have accused the Kremlin of facilitating.

Alexei Navalny (photo, left) died on February 16 in the IK-3 penal colony in Siberia after falling ill while walking

Vladimir Putin (pictured) is accused of orchestrating Navalny’s death

Lyudmila said she told Russian authorities that they had a duty to return her son’s body as it had already begun to decompose.

“Time is not on your side, bodies decompose,” she warned investigators.

Navalny is expected to be buried this week in a plot at the Borisov Cemetery in southeastern Moscow, just next to the Moskva River.

Armed guards were seen outside the cemetery today, apparently in preparation for the expected outpouring of sympathy for the dead dissident’s family.

The allies said on Monday that Navalny was due to be freed in a prisoner swap but was killed a day before he was due to be released.

Maria Pevchikh, a longtime confidante, said in a YouTube video: “Navalny should have been free in the coming days because we have received a decision on his exchange.

“In early February, Putin was offered to exchange the murderer, FSB officer Vadim Krasikov, who is in custody for a murder in Berlin, for two American citizens and Alexey Navalny.”

A German government spokesperson said on Monday that while Germany was aware of the reports about the reported swap, it could not comment on it.

Pevchikh also claimed that former Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich acted as an “informal negotiator” working with US and European officials.

Russian police officers guard the area near the fence of the Borisov cemetery where Alexey Navalny is expected to be buried this week

Guards were seen at the cemetery gate today

Lyudmila Navalnaya, the mother of the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny (photo, left) and lawyer Vasily Dubkov arrive at the regional branch of the Russian Investigative Committee in the city of Salekhard

Russian authorities refused to release his body so that his grieving mother, Lyudmila, could bury him unless she agreed to lay him to rest in a private ceremony.

“At the same time, he represented Putin (as) an unofficial channel of communication with the Kremlin.”

Other allies have claimed they have failed to find a location in Russia where people could pay their respects to Navalny.

Kira Yarmysh said on Tuesday: “Since yesterday we have been looking for a place where we can say goodbye to Alexei. We visited most private and public funeral offices, commercial locations and funeral homes.

‘Some places say the space is crowded, other places refuse at the mention of the name ‘Navalny’. At one point we were immediately told that funeral agencies were not allowed to work with us.’

Navalny had been jailed 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 since received three prison sentences on charges he dismissed as politically motivated.

Since Navalny’s death, about 400 people have been arrested across Russia as they tried to pay tribute to him with flowers and candles, according to OVD-Info, a group that monitors political arrests.

Authorities have cordoned off a number of memorials to the victims of Soviet repression across the country. These were used as a place to leave makeshift tributes to Navalny.

Since Navalny’s death, around 400 people have been arrested across Russia as they tried to pay tribute to him with flowers and candles.

This photo from a video shows a view of the IK-3 prison colony in the city of Kharp, Yamalo-Nenetsk region, about 2,000 kilometers northeast of Moscow

People lay flowers after the death of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny at the memorial for political prisoners in St. Petersburg

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is seen via video link in a Moscow courtroom

Police removed the flowers overnight, but more continue to appear.

Peskov said police acted “in accordance with the law” by detaining people paying tribute to Navalny.

More than 60,000 people have submitted requests to the government asking for Navalny’s remains to be transferred to his relatives, OVD-Info said.

After the latest ruling, which resulted in a 19-year prison sentence, Navalny said he understood he was “serving a life sentence, which is measured by the length of my life or the longevity of this regime.”

In a video published last week, his widow Yulia said: “By killing Alexei, Putin has killed half of me, half of my heart and half of my soul.”

“But I still have the other half, and it tells me I have no right to give up.”

“I will continue Alexei Navalny’s work,” Navalnaya said.

Navalny’s death has robbed the Russian opposition of its best-known and most inspiring politician, less than a month before elections that will almost certainly give Putin another six years in power.

Many Russians saw Navalny as a rare hope for political change amid the Russian president’s brutal crackdown on the opposition.

More to follow.