Memorial to Alexej Navalny

On 16 February 2024, at 14:19 Moscow time (11:19 GMT), the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug announced that Russian opposition activist and political prisoner Alexei Navalny died while serving a 19-year prison sentence in FKU IK-3, a corrective colony in the village of Kharp in the Russian Arctic. Navalny's spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh, confirmed his death the next day and demanded his body be returned to his family as soon as possible. The official cause of death per the Russian government was an episode of high blood pressure brought about by a chronic heart arrythmia, but this diagnosis has been disputed by Navalny's widow Yulia Navalnaya. Navalny was 47 years old when he died. Navalny's death spurred numerous protests and gatherings in different countries, including Russia, where hundreds of mourners were detained. Western officials and Russian opposition activists held Russian authorities, including President Vladimir Putin, responsible for his death. US intelligence agencies later concluded that Putin likely did not order Navalny's death. Navalny's funeral was held in Moscow on 1 March 2024, at the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God Soothe My Sorrows in the Maryino District. He was buried in the Borisovskoye сemetery in the Brateyevo District. In February 2026, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Sweden, and the Netherlands released a joint statement saying that Navalny was killed by epibatidine, a deadly toxin found in poison dart frogs, citing tests on samples from his body that "conclusively" confirmed its presence.