Navalny's widow vows to continue the opposition leader's work

The widow of Aleksei A. Navalny said on Monday that she would continue her husband's work to establish a democratic and free Russia. She presented herself for the first time as a political force and called on his followers to join her.

Navalny's sudden death in prison, announced by Russian authorities on Friday, left a vacuum in the Russian opposition. His supporters had wondered whether his wife Yulia Navalnaya – who has long shunned the spotlight – could step in to fill the void.

In a video released on MondayMs Navalnaya, 47, indicated she would. She said she first appeared on her late husband's YouTube channel to tell his followers that the most important thing they could do to honor his legacy was to “fight more desperately and fiercely than before.”

“I am going to continue Aleksei Navalny's work and continue to fight for our country,” Ms Navalnaya said. “I call on you to stand by my side, not to share alone in the sadness and endless pain that has enveloped us and will not let go. I ask you to share my anger – to share my anger, rage and hatred against those who have dared to kill our future.”

The nearly nine-minute video was made as a kind of introduction for a new leader of the pro-democracy movement against President Vladimir V. Putin. It comes at a time when those who oppose the Kremlin strongman, who have tried to unite, feel more discouraged than ever.

Ms Navalnaya has often resisted suggestions that she should enter politics, narrate German magazine Der Spiegel said last year: “I don't think this is an idea I want to play with.”

On Monday she showed a different face in an attempt to rally her husband's followers.

“I know it seems impossible to do more, but we must – come together in one strong fist and strike against this crazy regime, against Putin, against his friends and his bandits in uniform, against these thieves and murderers who have us country paralyzed,” she said.

Her video was released hours after Mr Navalny's aides said the opposition leader's mother still could not see her son's body. Mr Navalny's spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh, said authorities had told his mother that the investigation into his death “has been extended indefinitely.”

“By killing Aleksei, Putin has killed half of me, half of my heart and half of my soul,” said Ms. Navalnaya, Mr. Navalny’s widow. “But I still have half left and that tells me I have no right to give up.”

Her stirring message came as Mr Navalny's mother, still in Russia, tried again in vain on Monday to see and retrieve her son's body in an Arctic town near the prison where he died last week.

“One of the lawyers was literally pushed out of the Arctic morgue where Mr Navalny's body is believed to lie, Ms Yarmysh said in a post on the social media platform X. She added another message“They lie, buy time for themselves and don't even hide it.”

Russian investigators launched an investigation into the causes of Mr. Navalny's death shortly after it was reported, a procedural step that allows them to hold the body longer than normal.

Ivan Zhdanov, the head of Navalny's anti-corruption foundation, said the delay meant Russian officials were “cleaning up the traces of their crime.”

“They are waiting for the wave of hatred and anger to come their way,” Mr. Zhdanov said a post on Telegram, the messaging app.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry S. Peskov on Monday rejected any suggestion of impropriety and said the investigation into Mr. Navalny's death was continuing “in accordance with Russian law.”

More than 50,000 people have done so signed a petition to Russian investigators demanding the release of Mr. Navalny's body, a campaign initiated by a Russia-based human rights organization, OVD-Info.

Mourners have brought flowers to makeshift memorials across Russia, paying tribute to Mr Navalny in an act of grief that has also served as a form of protest in a country where even the mildest dissent can risk detention.

Russian authorities have sought to limit the extent of public mourning over Mr Navalny's death. Flowers were quickly removed from memorials and police arrested hundreds of people.

Anton Trojanovsky reporting contributed.