Russia rejects EU demand for investigation into Navalny’s death

The Kremlin has denied an international investigation demanded by the European Union into the death of jailed opposition figure Alexei Navalny.

“We do not accept such demands at all,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday, according to Russian news agencies. Russia sees this as interference in its internal affairs.

EU foreign policy Chief Josep Borrell had called for an independent international investigation into Navalny’s death.

But Navalny’s spokeswoman said there was little hope of Russia releasing the body to his wife or mother anytime soon.

Peskov also rejected as “unfounded and outrageous” accusations by Navalny’s widow Yulia Navalnaya that Putin had killed her husband.

In a video message earlier on Monday, the 47-year-old Navalnaya blamed Putin for Navalny’s death in a prison camp north of the Arctic Circle and announced that she would continue her husband’s fight against the Russian president’s system.

Peskov said that neither he nor Putin had watched the video.

He wanted to refrain from commenting in view of the fact that “Yulia Navalnaya has just been widowed,” Peskov added.

At the same time, the Kremlin spokesman defended the brutal action taken by security forces against Russians who laid flowers and lit candles in many cities across the country in memory of the deceased Putin opponent.

The uniformed officers had fulfilled their task in accordance with the law, said Peskov.

Hundreds of people had been detained in recent days for publicly commemorating the late opposition figure.

Courts have imposed arrests or fines in summary proceedings. In spite of this, many Russians continued to publicly express their grief.

Navalny’s team criticised the fact that people in Russia were now being detained for laying flowers.

(dpa/NAN)