2024-03-01 19:02:00
On March 1, Moscow said goodbye to Alexei Navalny. At regarding 2:00 p.m., the funeral service began in the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God “Quench My Sorrows” in the Maryino district, where the politician used to live. Mostly relatives and friends were allowed inside, and the service itself lasted less than 20 minutes (according to Navalny’s associates, the rector of the church, Anatoly Rodionov, was pressured so that the ceremony would take as little time as possible). The coffin was then taken to the Borisovskoye cemetery, where Navalny was buried. Along the way, people – tens of thousands took to the streets, despite threats from the authorities – threw flowers at the hearse and chanted “Navalny!” and thanks!” Meduza correspondents and photographers worked in Maryino all day. They tell and show how the country said goodbye to its main independent politician of the 21st century.
People flocked to the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God “Quiet My Sorrows” in Maryino from early morning. Already a few hours before the funeral service, at least a thousand people came to say goodbye to Alexei Navalny, some arrived from other cities.
They all crowded at the gate: the entrance to the temple territory was blocked with metal fences – the kind security forces usually post during rallies. Fences also stretch along the Brateevsky Bridge, through which the road from the church to the Borisovsky cemetery passes, where they decided to bury the politician – it is a half-hour walk away.
People with funeral bouquets and prayer books in their hands filled not only the area next to the temple, but also the nearest metro stations. The train carriages traveling along the light green line towards the Maryino station were unusually crowded for this time of day. There was a smell of greenery: passengers with flowers might be found in every train. They held large bouquets in their hands, as well as several flowers tied with mourning ribbon. A sad girl at the end of the train car, departing from the Pechatniki station towards Maryino, put a white chrysanthemum on the window.
Georgy Guzovsky / “Medusa”
Security forces go to the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God “Quench My Sorrows” in Maryino on the morning of March 1
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Before the funeral service
At the Maryino station, the carriages were emptying; most of the passengers got off here. In the center of the hall they were met by a group of police officers and men in black without identification marks, but with walkie-talkies on their chests; in the passages there are security forces in full uniform: balaclavas, helmets, batons, knee pads. Many people got off at the station earlier, at Bratislavskaya. There the crowd split into two: one part walked towards the temple along the street, the other tried to cut through the courtyards.
On the way to the church, security forces in blue winter suits marched. Small groups of police stood every 10-20 meters. “Dear citizens, as we say goodbye, we turn left, around,” one of them repeated over and over once more into the loudspeaker. “I can’t tell the people, damn it, I can’t tell you,” the woman said into the telephone receiver, making her way through the dense stream of people.
A resident of Maryino takes photographs with his phone of those who came to say goodbye to Alexei Navalny
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The crowd grew. An hour before the funeral, the line of people wishing to say goodbye to the politician stretched for a kilometer and grew larger every minute. Where it ended, they did not jam the mobile Internet – but on the approaches to the temple, the network disappeared for many. People were mostly silent or talking to each other in low voices.
Many wore medical masks or sunglasses. Out of every two dozen people, at least one hid their face. “Glory to Alexei Navalny!” – someone shouted at the end of the line. Similar shouts were heard every few minutes.
The crowd passed an empty notice board with the words “Elections” posted outside one of the houses. On the same path is “President” dentistry; Having caught up with her, many took photographs.
“You need to bury them in daylight, but it’s getting dark early now. [Ведь еще] “only two hours,” an alarmed female voice rang out in the crowd. “Eh, we won’t make it in time, we won’t get there…” He was interrupted by an irritated man: “It doesn’t matter! Yulia, it doesn’t matter. We are a hundred meters away or five kilometers away… It’s important to just be here.”
Queue to the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God “Quench My Sorrows” in Maryino
Georgy Guzovsky / “Medusa”
Georgy Guzovsky / “Medusa”
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A group of security forces without identification marks walked past the line. Following her was a middle-aged man who shouted to the crowd: “Hey, why are you standing there, you idiots? It’s my choice, I would shoot you all!” Nobody answered him. The elderly woman in a headscarf continued to distribute funeral candies as if nothing had happened.
At regarding two o’clock in the followingnoon, the motorcade with the body of Alexei Navalny arrived at the church. Waiting for him in the crowd were, among others, European diplomats, including the ambassadors of the United States, France and Germany, as well as several Russian politicians – Ekaterina Duntsova, Yevgeny Roizman and Boris Nadezhdin. Some of them were holding armfuls of red carnations and roses.
The funeral service staff carefully removed the coffin from the car with the “Ritual” sticker. Four men with red bands on their sleeves carried the coffin with the body of Alexei Navalny to applause and shouts of “Navalny! Navalny!” Filming the funeral procession on their phones, people in the crowd cried.
Next, the politician’s parents, Lyudmila and Anatoly, walked up the steps of the church. Those who came to say goodbye to Navalny began to be allowed into the temple territory. Someone said: “They wanted to ban it, but it turned out to be a procession longer than a block.”
Yulia Navalnaya’s mother Alla stands at the temple, Alexei’s parents, Lyudmila and Anatoly, rise to meet her
AP / Scanpix / LETA
In a church
A coffin was installed in the church and the lid was removed so that loved ones – few of them were inside – might say goodbye to Navalny. He lay in the folds of white cloth that covered the inside of the coffin. There is an Orthodox corolla on the forehead, and armfuls of red roses and white tulips on the bedspread.
Lyudmila and Anatoly Navalny sat next to the coffin, followed by photographers and those who managed to get into the temple. Many held candles.
The priest began the requiem service: “We nail to the Cross, You have gathered the faces of martyrdom to Yourself, worthy of Your Passion, O Blessed One. We also pray to You: those who have been sent to You rest in peace.” At this time, flowers continued to be placed in the coffin.
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Reuters / Scanpix / SEARCH
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When the priest finished, they turned on a recording of the funeral litany – “Eternal Memory” performed by the church choir. Bending over the coffin, the priest explained something in a low voice to Lyudmila Navalnaya, she nodded. Then he placed an icon in the coffin. Soon – the funeral service lasted no more than 20 minutes – the altar servers gave the order to close the lid.
There were shouts from those who did not have time to approach the coffin: “Let me say goodbye!”, “Please!”, “For God’s sake!”, “Wait!” Ignoring them, men dressed in black and wearing red bands surrounded the coffin and quickly began to take flowers out of it. “Father said to close,” someone said. A woman’s cry sounded over the crowd: “Rest in peace. Sorry, sorry for not saving you.”
At half past three the bell was rung and the coffin was taken out of the church. Those who came to say goodbye applauded and once more began chanting “Navalny!” By this time there is a line to the temple stretched out already more than one and a half kilometers.
The coffin was loaded into the car. People from all sides threw flowers at her. Somewhere in the crowd, not far from the main gate of the temple, prayers began to be sung. They were occasionally interrupted by shouts: “Heroes don’t die!”
Amid applause, the hearse, showered with flowers, drove towards the cemetery. Following him was heard: “Thank you!”
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Road to the cemetery
“Everyone is in the cemetery!” – shouted a man at the church fence. The crowd turned around and moved in a dense stream towards the Brateevsky Bridge. Somewhere, girls harmoniously sang “Christ is Risen from the Dead,” and shouts of “Navalny!” People moved along the fences, through police in full uniform, a line of paddy wagons, empty electric buses and mounted police crews.
“Look, everyone is hiding their faces,” said a woman of regarding sixty.
– Do they really think something will happen? “The people here are all cultured,” a man of regarding forty answered her.
– Yes, that’s why the government hasn’t changed yet.
In front of one of the pedestrian crossings, a guy in a gray jacket pushed aside a metal fence that was blocking the crowd, and it fell with a roar. The Russian Guards standing nearby radioed their colleagues with a request to raise him. “Oh, sorry, we accidentally dropped it,” the young people said, almost giggling, as they ran across the road. Nobody stopped them.
“We are working more actively through the megaphone,” came from the police radio. But the security forces themselves did not seem to quite understand what to do, and politely showed the way to those who asked. People walked past them in a continuous, fast stream.
Cars passing by honked their horns. In response, people applauded and waved flowers. “Young people, you are crazy,” an elderly woman shaking her head with a bologna bag in her hands.
People who came to say goodbye to Alexei Navalny walk from the temple to the Borisov cemetery
Georgy Guzovsky / “Medusa”
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Several people tried to take a shortcut through the snowdrifts in order to climb over the fence, but police officers ran towards them from the direction of the cemetery. Someone shouted: “Nice!” – and the crowd continued moving along the previous route.
In the stream, they tried to estimate how many people came to say goodbye to Navalny.
“There are a thousand people within two hundred meters.” Two hundred long and five wide [метров]. A kilometer is already five thousand [человек]. And how many kilometers there are! — the man reasoned out loud.
“It’s not thousands of people, it’s tens of thousands,” his interlocutor answered.
– And if there was no fear, how many more would come? What if everything had been carried out normally, as it should be?
Near the cemetery at that time a woman was shouting angrily: “Let us say goodbye normally, and we’ll leave!” The crowd began chanting: “Navalny!” and “He is alive in our hearts!”
“Putin said: “His death will cause us more trouble than good.” And so it happened! – someone in the crowd reasoned.
“And they killed me anyway.” “Killed,” came the answer.
Not far from the cemetery, two children – a boy regarding seven years old in a blue jacket and a girl regarding three years old in a pink one – were playing clapping. Looking at them, the mother, holding a funeral bouquet in her hands, smiled. “How little they are and they also came to say goodbye! — a tall elderly woman passing by was touched. “God grant that at least they will live to see the happy Russia of the future.” “Yes, they have a chance,” replied a gray-haired man from the crowd.
A stream of people moved past a spontaneous memorial that appeared regarding a kilometer from the cemetery: flowers and church candles were stuck in a snowdrift. Soon notes began to be placed on the snow: “Spring will come, and we will definitely cope,” “Navalny is a hero of Russia,” “Alyosha, you are our light,” “Alexey, thank you for everything.” “That’s all Russia,” one of those passing by remarked. “A dirty snowdrift and flowers.”
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Spontaneous memorial in Maryino
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Reuters / Scanpix / SEARCH
Cemetery
At the cemetery, the family saw Navalny for the last time. The coffin was closed and lowered into a grave covered with spruce branches. At this time, Frank Sinatra’s song “My Way” was playing. Then the musical theme from the second part of “Terminator” sounded – Navalny loved this film very much and called it “the greatest.”
“Oh, the music from Terminator is playing,” someone said.
– So, he will come back once more.
The crowd chanted “Let us through!” without respite. — security forces allowed into the cemetery only in small groups. Those who managed to enter took handfuls of earth from a special container and threw them onto the lid of the coffin. The ground fell with a dull thud.
Mothers of Alexei and Yulia Navalny at Borisov Cemetery
AP / Scanpix / LETA
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Alexei Navalny’s grave at Borisov Cemetery
Reuters / Scanpix / SEARCH
Suddenly the police began to turn away those who came with the words: “The cemetery is closed.” But people didn’t want to leave, they shouted “We won’t leave!” and “No to war!” Soon the passage to the grave was opened once more, and parents with small children were allowed in without a queue.
On the metal fence near the cemetery, someone wrote with a black marker: “Navalny Lech 1976–2024.” “Let’s thank Alexey for everything he did for us,” someone’s voice said. “Thank you, Alexey!”
“Thank you, Alexey! Thank you!” – answered the crowd.
A wooden cross was installed on Navalny’s grave, to which was attached a black and white photograph of the politician – in it he is half-turned. By this time, those who came to say goodbye to Alexei Navalny brought so many flowers that they lay in a huge heavy pile on the grave. People kept walking and walking: pausing for a moment, crossing themselves or bowing. A man in a suit standing nearby reminded me every 10 seconds: “Please move on. Everyone wants to say goodbye.”
– Why did he come back? — the girl said, sobbing as she left the cemetery.
“That’s what I came back for,” the man answered her, and nodded toward the line.
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