Kremlin foe Alexei Navalny’s team confirms his death and says his mother is searching for his body

Alexei Navalny’s spokesperson confirmed Saturday that the Russian opposition leader had died at a remote Arctic penal colony, saying he was “murdered,” but it was unclear where his body was as his family and friends searched for answers.

Navalny’s death at age 47 has deprived the Russian opposition of its most well-known and inspiring politician less than a month before an election that will give President Vladimir Putin another six years in power.

Although neither the imprisoned anti-corruption crusader nor other Kremlin critics were in a position to challenge Putin for the presidency, the loss of Navalny was a crushing blow to Russians who had pinned their future hopes on Putin’s seemingly indefatigable foe. It also prompted questions about what killed him. Russian officials told the politician’s team Saturday that the cause of Navalny’s death had not yet been established and that the results of a new investigation would be released next week, said Navalny spokesperson Kira Yarmysh. Navalny’s mother was told that the body would not be released until those investigations were complete, she said. The decision has prompted speculation that the Russian authorities may be keen to hold on to the body in an attempt to cover up potential foul play. “They’re driving us around in circles and covering their tracks,” Yarmysh said.

A note handed to Navalny’s mother stated that he died at 2:17 p.m. Friday, according to Yarmysh. Prison officials told his mother when she arrived at the penal colony Saturday that her son had perished from “sudden death syndrome,” Ivan Zhdanov, the director of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

A prison colony employee said the body was taken to the nearby city of Salekhard as part of a post-mortem investigation, Yarmysh said. When Navalny’s mother and one of the late politician’s lawyers visited the morgue in Salekhard, it was closed, Navalny’s team wrote on its Telegram channel. But the lawyer called the morgue and was told the body was not there, his team said.

Another of Navalny’s lawyers went to Salekhard’s Investigative Committee and was told that the cause of Navalny’s death had not yet been established and that new investigations were being done with the results to be released next week, Yarmysh said. Russia’s Investigative Committee informed Navalny’s team that the body would not be handed over to his relatives until those investigations were complete, she said.

“It’s obvious that they are lying and doing everything they can to avoid handing over the body,” Yarmysh wrote on X, adding that his team demanded that Navalny’s body “be handed over to his family immediately.”

Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service reported that Navalny felt sick after a walk Friday and fell unconscious at the penal colony in the town of Kharp, in the Yamalo-Nenets region about 1,900 kilometers (1,200 miles) northeast of Moscow. An ambulance arrived, but he couldn’t be revived, the service said, adding that the cause of death is still “being established.”