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Yulia Navalnaya and Alexei Navalny at a rally for the slain opposition politician Boris Nemtsov in February 2017 in Moscow

Photo: Sefa Karacan / Anadolu / Getty Images

Thousands of people said goodbye to the Kremlin critic at Alexei Navalny's funeral in Moscow, but several of Navalny's relatives were unable to pay their last respects to him on site: his wife Yulia Navalnaya and their children - daughter Daria and son Sakhar - stayed away from the funeral service for security reasons.

Instead, Navalnaya published a final greeting to her husband on X, a video clip that shows important stages in their relationship.

The 47-year-old wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that she will always love Alexei.

Scenes in the clip were accompanied by the song “Khotschesch” (in German: Willste) by the Kremlin-critical singer Semfira.

It begins with the words: “Please don’t die or I’ll have to die too.”

In the post, Navalnaya wrote: »Lyosha, thank you for 26 years of absolute happiness.

Yes, even for the last three years of happiness.

For the love, for always supporting me, for making me laugh even in prison, for always thinking about me." Ljosha is the pet form of the name Alexei.

The opponent of Russian leader Vladimir Putin had spent the last three years in prison.

He died in the prison camp on February 16th and has now been buried in Moscow.

There were protests against Putin on the sidelines of the funeral.

Navalnaya accuses Putin of murdering Navalny; she should have expected to be arrested if she attended the funeral.

Navalnaya is currently abroad.

She has announced that she will continue her husband's political fight against Putin.

She recently described Putin in the European Parliament as the “head of a criminal gang.”

»I will do my best to make you happy for me up there and proud of me«

The widow continued: "I don't know how I'll live without you, but I'll do my best to make you up there happy for me and proud of me.

I don't know if I can do it or not, but I'll try." And further: "I will always love you.

Rest in peace."

According to authorities, Navalny died on February 16 in the penal camp with the unofficial name “Arctic Wolf” in the Siberian Arctic region of Yamal.

The circumstances of his death are not clear.

The politician, who was weakened by a poison attack in 2020 and repeated solitary confinement in the camp, is said to have collapsed during a tour of the icy prison yard and died despite attempts to resuscitate him.

According to Navalny's team, the death certificate mentions "natural" causes.

col/dpa