Alexei Navalny: The final stand against Putin's Russia and unveiled wealth

The Federal Penitentiary Service of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug provided information about the death of 47-year-old Alexei Navalny. His funeral ceremony took place in Moscow on Friday.

Russian media have reported that Navalny suffered a blood clot. Nonetheless, the authorities refused to release the politician's body to his family.

His mother, Lyudmila, received an ultimatum from the prison authorities: consent to a quiet funeral at the local cemetery or have the oppositionist buried on the colony's grounds. Independent Russian media reported that the woman contested these decisions in a local court and also garnered support from her son's followers.

Navalny posed a threat to Putin not because he espoused the unpopular positions of liberalism and democracy, like the conventional opposition, but because he targeted the regime's weakest link - assessed Adam Eberhardt, director at the Warsaw Enterprise Institute, in conversation with the Polish Press Agency.

In his view, the oppositionist disclosed corruption and state misappropriation. This approach resonated with Russians who hold more right-wing views, and at times, he also appealed to those with nationalistic sentiments.

January marked three years since Navalny's arrest and subsequent imprisonment upon his return to Russia from Germany, where he was treated for a suspected poisoning by Russian special services. The dictatorship-controlled state apparatus initiated further criminal cases against him, resulting in sentences totaling over 30 years.

The day after his arrest, the Anti-Corruption Foundation released an investigative report on Putin's extravagant palace. The authors claimed that the construction of the nearly 18,000 sq.m facility was funded by Russian state and private companies linked with the dictator's associates. Its value was estimated at about £765 million. In the documentary, Navalny labeled Putin "the wealthiest man in the world".

This sentiment is echoed by the Dutch newspaper "De Telegraaf". "Yachts, palaces, airplanes, and dubious private companies - Putin is likely the world's wealthiest man," the newspaper highlighted in September 2023. The Netherlands' leading newspaper also referenced the Panama Papers from 2016, which imply that the Russian leader has roughly £1.7 billion hidden through an extensive network of companies.

Vladimir Putin denied the allegations from Navalny's foundation, while Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov dismissed the documentary as "pseudo-investigation." The dictator received backing from Arkady Rotenberg, a businessman and friend, who stated he owned the seaside luxury estate.