Watch again as Alexei Navalny’s funeral held inside Russian church

Warning: This livestream contains scenes that some viewers may find distressing.

Watch as the funeral of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is held inside a Moscow church on Friday (1 March).

Relatives and supporters of Navalny will bid farewell to him at his funeral in southeastern Moscow, following a battle with authorities over the release of his body after his still-unexplained death in an Arctic penal colony.

His supporters say several churches in Moscow refused to hold the service before Navalny’s team got permission from one in the capital’s Maryino district, where he once lived before his 2020 poisoning, treatment in Germany and subsequent arrest on his return to Russia.

The Church of the Icon of the Mother of God Soothe My Sorrows, which agreed to hold the service, did not mention it on its social media page.

Police have been seen putting crowd-control barriers at the church.

A burial will follow in the nearby Borisovskoye Cemetery, where police have also been seen.