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Rally in Rome: People mourn Alexei Navalny at a rally in the Piazza del Campidoglio
Photo: Andrew Medichini / dpa
After the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, the Italian Foreign Ministry summoned the Russian ambassador. This was stated by the ministry in Rome.
Navalny died in custody in a Siberian camp last week. He was considered the harshest critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin and had been in captivity for a good three years.
After the death, several European countries demanded a full clarification of the circumstances of the death and announced that they would summon Russian diplomats - most recently the federal government also summoned the Russian ambassador.
The German Foreign Ministry also called for the release of all recent political prisoners in Russia. "It is shocking to see that people in Russia are arrested because they lay flowers," said a ministry spokesman.
The USA, in turn, wants to announce a major package of sanctions against Russia on Friday. Details of the measures were not initially known.
spr/Reuters