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Hundreds Detained After Kremlin Critic Navalny Dies

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

MOSCOW/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) –
Rights activist estimates that at least 340 people were detained at events in 30 Russian cities since Navalny’s death at age 47.

Navalny was seen as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most formidable domestic opponent, and activists raised doubts about the prison’s statement.

In a statement published on its website, the Federal Penitentiary Service of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District said that Navalny “felt unwell” after a walk on Friday and “almost immediately lost consciousness.”

It stressed that medical staff had been called but that they were unable to resuscitate Navalny.

However, Western leaders, including U.S. President Joe Biden, have blamed Putin, who rules a nation where numerous opponents and critical journalists have died under suspicious circumstances.

RIPPING PLACARDS

This weekend’s detentions mark the largest wave of arrests at political events in Russia since September 2022, when more than 1,300 were arrested at rallies against a “partial mobilization” of reservists for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Footage and pictures from Russia’s two largest cities – Moscow and St Petersburg – showed officers ripping away placards from protesters and dragging others away from makeshift memorials to Navalny.

Journalists at the site in Moscow – set up at a monument to victims of Soviet repression – were also filmed being detained, reporters said.

One woman was heard saying: “All that is happening over these years, on the territory of my beloved country, is a disgrace.”

Another added: “I am furious, of course. They have finally killed him.”