The daughter of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has paid tribute to him after he died in a penal colony.
Dasha Navalnaya posted on Instagram for the first time since her father’s death, paying tribute to him.
The message was accompanied by a picture of herself as a child in her father’s arms, alongside her mother, Yulia.
Below the picture was the caption in Russian: "I love you, kiss you, hug you tightly and miss you very, very much."
The picture was accompanied with the caption in Russian: "I love you, kiss you, hug you tightly and miss you very, very much"
Instagram/Getty
Navalnaya, 23, is a student at Stanford University. It is the first time she has spoken publicly since her father’s death, and came a day after her mother posted a picture of them together on social media.
Yulia Navalnaya, who also has a younger son, Zakhar, with her late husband, wrote: "My dear girl. I flew here to hug you and support you, and you are sitting and supporting me.
"So strong, brave and resilient. We will definitely cope with everything, my dear one. It’s so good that you’re at my side. I love you."
The 47-year-old was in Munich last week when she learnt of the death of her husband, the best-known Russian opposition leader in the West. The family also met President Biden in Los Angeles yesterday.
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Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Alexei Navalny, lies down with her daughter Dasha Navalnaya
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Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for Navalny said on Friday that Russian authorities had told his mother he would be buried in the penal colony where he died unless she agreed within three hours to lay him to rest without a public funeral.
His mother Lyudmila, 69, has been demanding for days that authorities hand over his body to be buried in a way that will allow his friends, family and supporters to pay their respects.
Navalny's spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh posted on social media: "An hour ago, an investigator called Alexei's mother and gave her an ultimatum. Either she agrees within three hours to a secret funeral without a public farewell, or Alexei will be buried in the penal colony."
Yarmysh said Navalny's mother was refusing and continuing to demand that his body be handed to her. There was no immediate comment from the authorities.
Alexei Navalny, seen following the Moscow Arbitration Court in Moscow, Russia, on January, 27, 2016
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Navalnaya, 69, who has travelled to Salekhard, the town nearest to the prison where her son died, said that officers then "threatened" her by saying that they would only give the body to his family on the condition that he was buried in secret.
She said: "They want it to be done secretly, without saying goodbye. They want to take me to the outskirts of the cemetery to a fresh grave and say, ‘Here lies your son.’ I don’t agree to this.
"I want you, too, to whom Alexei is dear, for whom his death was a personal tragedy, to have the opportunity to say goodbye to him.
"I am recording this video because they began to threaten me. Looking into my eyes, they said that if I do not agree to a secret funeral, they will do something with my son’s body. Investigator Voropaev openly told me, 'Time is not on your side, the corpse is decomposing.'
"I don’t want special conditions, I just want everything to be done according to the law. I demand that my son’s body be returned to me immediately.”
