Sarah Rainsford
BBC Eastern Europe Correspondent

Police have been detaining people across Russia as they tried to lay flowers in memory of Alexei Navalny at monuments to Stalinist political repression.

The numbers are small so far, but likely to grow.

Videos from Moscow show one woman being dragged through the snow towards a police van by several officers. There are shouts of "shame" from the crowd.

The police then kettle those remaining on the snowy streets, pushing them away from the shrines that have sprung up to Navalny.

Last night, it seemed officers had orders to allow people to pay their tributes – as long as they then moved on.

Today, the orders seem to have changed.

The Kremlin is moving to stamp out any hint of a mass gathering, any potential explosion of anger at Navalny’s death.

In Novosibisrk, in Siberia, the authorities cordoned off the monument where people were heading to pay their respects. They claimed there were bomb threats. Mourners stuck their flowers into snowdrifts instead, nearby.

In Vladimir Putin’s Russia, the right to public protest has been gradually, but firmly, squeezed – until it’s almost non-existent. It is illegal even to stand with a protest sign in the street without permission. The punishment is a fine or a short spell in police custody.

But if that sign expresses support for Alexei Navalny, there’s a real risk of criminal charges – for extremism.

Navalny’s entire political organisation – including all its offices across Russia – has been declared "extremist" on a par with terrorist groups like Isis or Al-Qaeda. It means anyone with any links to Navalny – or showing support for him and his team – is taking a major risk.

Alexei Navalny's spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh has demanded that Navalny's body be immediately handed over to his family, following official confirmation of his death.

She says Navalny's body is currently with investigators.

A spokesperson for Alexei Navalny, Kira Yarmysh, has confirmed the Russian opposition leader is dead.

He died at 14:17 local time on 16 February, according to a document given to Navalny's mother, Lyudmila.

Yarmysh says an employee of the penal colony where Navalny was being held had been taken to Salekhard, a town nearby, and his body is with investigators.

Image source, Shutterstock

The UK's foreign secretary has said the UK will be "taking action" in the wake of Navalny's death in a Russian prison.

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference this morning, Lord Cameron said "there should be consequences" over the death of the political activist, who had been held in Russian captivity since 2021 on politically-motivated charges.

"When appalling human rights outrages like this take place, what we do is we look at whether there are individual people that are responsible and whether there are individual measures and actions we can take," said Cameron, who added that he would not share in advance what measures the UK intended.

Cameron said he would be meeting with other foreign ministers from the group of G7 nations and would be urging them to take action as well.

Image source, EPA

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has described Russian President Vladimir Putin as a "thug" as he addressed the death of Alexei Navalny while speaking at the Munich Security Conference.

Zelensky said: "After the murder of Alexei Navalny, it's absurd to perceive Putin as a supposedly legitimate head of a Russian state, and he is a thug who maintains power through corruption and violence."

Speaking ahead of the two-year anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Zelensky accused Putin of trying to send the world a "clear message" on the day the Munich Security Conference opened.

The Ukrainian president called on attendees of the conference to "work together to destroy what [Putin] stands for".

"It is his fate to lose, not the fate of the rules-based world order to vanish."

Image source, PA Media

The wife of the poisoned former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko has told the BBC about the "difficult" parallels between the killing of her husband 18 years ago and Alexei Navalny's death.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Marina Litvenenko said watching Yulia Navalny address the death of her husband on the world stage, at the Munich Security Conference yesterday, "was difficult to see".

"It was very difficult to see Yulia yesterday, and felt exactly what I felt nearly 18 years ago. I didn't think anybody would go through the same experience what I had, losing your husband in front of the whole world."

Alexander Litvinenko, a former Russian spy who became a British citizen, was fatally poisoned with radioactive polonium-210 in London in 2006.

In 2021, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Russia was responsible for his killing, something Russia has always denied.

Litvinenko added that she believes that "Putin's regime" will come to an end "much sooner than expected".

Sarah Rainsford
BBC Eastern Europe Correspondent

Across Russia, the authorities have been scooping up flowers and tributes left to Alexei Navalny, to ensure there is no public sign of the extent of support for Vladimir Putin’s biggest rival.

In Moscow, a video showed what looked like men in dark tops, with their hoods raised, moving in to clear the many tributes laid at the Solovetsky Stone, a monument to the victims of political repression in Stalin’s time.

The carnations and roses had been piled high on and around the stone – and at another monument in St Petersburg – as a stream of Navalny’s supporters turned out to remember him. Some left photos of the politician, and small notes of protest and defiance.

The video from Moscow showed police blocking access to the site, while the shrine was removed.

There were similar reports from memorials across Russia.

Men in civilian clothing, again with their hoods up, also removed tributes left on the bridge near the Kremlin where the opposition politician Boris Nemtsov was murdered in February 2015. Again, police stood by and watched.

The authorities don’t want any focal points for protest.

Image source, Getty Images

Aptly nicknamed the Polar Wolf, the prison sits above the Arctic Circle and is described as a "special regime colony", with temperatures in the region plummeting to -30C in winter.

It's so much on the outskirts of civilisation that it makes it nearly impossible for visitors to reach the site.

Navalny was transported to the prison from his previous incarceration at the Melekhovo colony, approximately four hours from Moscow, where he had been serving a two-year sentence.

During his time in prison he suffered with health issues, perhaps as a result of being poisoned with Novichok, for which he had required life-saving treatment in the West.

Reporting debilitating back pain, stomach pain and numbness in his legs, the opposition politician was denied access to medical records, medication and subject to hourly night checks.

On 22 January, he explained how the prison wardens would often wake everybody up at 5am to play the Russian national anthem.

"And right after that - the second most important song in the country: Shaman's 'Ya Russky,'" he said, a song which translates to "I'm Russian" and has become an unofficial anthem of Vladimir Putin's.

However, his humour and charisma were still apparent in December when he gave an insight into the 1,200 mile (1,930km) journey from Melekhovo to Kharp.

"The 20 days of my transportation were pretty exhausting, but I'm still in a good mood, as befits a Santa Claus," he joked.

Steve Rosenberg
BBC Russia editor

Image source, Reuters

The death in prison of Russia’s most prominent opposition figure has made headlines around the world.

But in Russia last night the main 45-minute news bulletin on Russian TV spent just 28 seconds on Alexei Navalny. His death was mentioned almost in passing.

We know nothing more this morning about what happened inside Special Regime Penal Colony No.3 north of the Arctic Circle.

The official version of events from Russia’s Prison Service goes like this: Navalny had lost consciousness following a walk and attempts to resuscitate him failed.

In towns and cities across Russia, in memory of the Kremlin’s most vociferous critic, people laid flowers at monuments to the victims of political repression. Police were out in force. More than 100 people are reported to have been detained.

Our colleagues at Ukrainecast recorded a special episode yesterday on Navalny following the news of his death.

Among their guests was best-selling Russian crime writer Boris Akunin, a vocal critic of Vladimir Putin who is wanted in Russia for speaking out against the war in Ukraine.

Akunin, who now lives in exile in the UK, told the programme he believes Navalny will "become a real problem for Putin as "a symbol of defiance".

"He cannot be killed again and he will live forever as a symbol, as a banner," he says.

You can listen to that interview in full and hear more on Navalny's death here.

Alexei Navalny's death in a Russian prison has prompted protests and tributes around the world.

Supporters of the 47-year-old political activist gathered outside Russian embassies and other sites in major cities across the globe, including London, Paris, Geneva and New York.

In Berlin, large crowds shouted "Putin to the Hague" and outside Russia's embassy in London protesters held up signs that said "Navalny is our hero".

More than100 people stood in front of the United Nations in Geneva where they held up portraits of Navalny and placed flowers.

There were also protests in Russia.

Images on social media showed groups of people placing flowers at makeshift memorials in Moscow and Saint Petersburg.

More than 100 people are reported to have been detained in Russian cities.

Image source, Shutterstock

Image source, Shutterstock

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Alexei Navalny, 47, was probably Putin’s most famous critic.

For more than a decade he exposed corruption at the heart of Russian power. His video investigations have received tens of millions of views online.

A charismatic campaigner, Navalny, set up a network of regional campaign offices, having planned to run for president in 2018. He was barred from the vote.

In 2020, he was poisoned in Siberia by what Western laboratories later confirmed to be a nerve agent.

He was treated abroad and had been jailed since returning to Russia in January 2021, when he was immediately arrested.

Before he was jailed he lived in Moscow with his wife Yulia and their two children.

You can read more about his life here.

Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

Here is a quick recap on some key developments since the Russian prison service announced that jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, aged 47, died in an Arctic Circle prison on Friday:

• Visibly shaken, Navalny's wife, Yulia Navalnaya, said she didn't know whether the "horrible news" was true - stressing that President Vladimir Putin would be held accountable if that was the case
• Navalny's team said their lawyer was flying to the prison, promising to provide an update when they could
• More than 100 street protesters were detained on Friday evening in several Russian cities - after the authorities had warned against holding public rallies
• Demonstrations and vigils took place near Russian embassies in many countries to express outrage at the death of Putin's most vocal critic
• US President Joe Biden said Putin was "responsible" for Navalny's death
• UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron told the BBC "there should be consequences"
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Navalny had been "killed by Putin"
• Navalny had been in jail since 2021 on charges widely viewed as politically motivated

Image source, EPA

Following the reports of Navalny's death, a video has been widely circulated on social media showing the Kremlin critic appearing in court via video link on Thursday.

He is seen in good spirits and joking with the judge - he asks him to send him some money from his "huge salary" as he is "running out".

Mr Navalny had been held since 2021 on charges widely viewed as politically motivated.

Image source, Getty Images

Also paying tribute to a "great hero of the resistance against the Putin regime" is former Georgian leader Mikheil Saakashvili.

He was sent to prison in 2021, after being convicted of committing abuses of power while in office - charges he says were politically motivated. World leaders have since called for his release, after he appeared emaciated at a court hearing.

"Alexei [Navalny] and I had our disagreements in the past but I admired his courage and huge talent, and greatly appreciated him expressing his solidarity with me over my mistreatment in prison," Saakashvili says.

He goes on to call for the West to try to gain the release of other political prisoners in Russia and "also, try to save me".

"Putin often compared Navalny with me. He promised to hang me. With Navalny now gone, am I the next on Putin's death row?" he asks.

Saakashvili was elected Georgia's president in 2004 following the Rose Revolution and was in office during the brief war with Russia in 2008. In 2015-16 he served as a regional governor in Ukraine.

What is your message to your followers if you are killed? Alexei Navalny was asked in 2022 for a BBC documentary.

"If they kill me, it means we are incredibly strong," he responds. This powerful quote, as we reported, was used on Friday by Hillary Clinton to memorialise the politician.

Watch the video below to hear it in full:

Image source, Getty Images

Former US President Barack Obama has described Alexei Navalny as "a fearless advocate for his beliefs who died unbroken by the tyranny he opposed".

Obama's statement went on: "He fought corruption, inspired millions and never wavered in his insistence on free expression, the rule of law, and a Russia that is accountable to the people and not a dictator.

"He died in unyielding defence of his vision of a better future for his country - a vision, and a courageous example, that will never die."

Image source, NurPhoto via Getty Images

A prominent exiled Russian politician has told the BBC that Alexei Navalny's "efforts will not be wasted" - but he thinks the people who could actually challenge President Putin will not be "traditional opposition" figures.

Ilya Ponomarev, a former Russian MP who now lives in Ukraine, said that since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 the real threat to the Kremlin has been "coming from people who actually fight".

He singled out the Ukraine-based Freedom of Russia Legion - a paramilitary group that has claimed a number of incursions into Russia; and also what he described as an "urban resistance movement" active across Russia.

"That’s a new generation Russian opposition," Ponomarev said, adding that he himself was certain he would soon return to Russia "on a tank, or an armoured vehicle".

And he urged politicians in the West to realise "that this war can end only in one way: with the removal of Mr Putin from his office, and the destruction of 'Putinism' as a modern-day version of 'fascism'."

Image source, Russia's Channel One TV

Russian state media tends not to give much or any airtime to critics of the government, and their initial treatment of Alexei Navalny’s reported death continues in this vein.

On state TV channels, the media outlets with the biggest audiences in Russia, there has been minimal coverage of Navalny’s death, and the first reports were largely slow to come and perfunctory.

On two of the most popular channels - Channel One and Rossiya 1 - it took almost 45 minutes and an hour respectively after the announcement, before it was mentioned.

These reports provided no contextual information of who Navalny was, nor why he was in prison.

One didn’t even mention his full name, referring to him only as “Navalny” - despite telling viewers “the most thorough investigation” into his death would take place.

When a liberal politician appearing on another popular state TV channel tried to express his condolences on Navalny’s death he was cut off by the programme’s host, who asked him what this had to do with the topic they were discussing.

On social media, however, it is quite a different picture.

The news has been all over platforms like X (formerly Twitter) - where it was a top trending topic - and Telegram, an increasingly popular source of news.

Posts on Navalny were among the most viewed on Telegram, garnering hundreds of thousands - sometimes over a million - views, in hours.

Image source, Rossiya 24

Journalists from the BBC Russian service have been describing their memories of Alexei Navalny, who was often interviewed by independent Russian-language media:

Andrei Goryanov, Editor-in-Chief of the BBC Russian Service:

Navalny did not obey orders, was not afraid of threats, acted in accordance with his ethical principles, and was responsible for his words.

He gave faith to millions that there would be light beyond the darkness.

Ilya Barabanov, Special Correspondent:

Alexei Navalny’s ability to make jokes about himself, the authorities, his friends and colleagues is something that has never happened before in Russian politics and is unlikely to happen in the foreseeable future.

Elisabeth Focht, reporter:

As I was covering one of Navalny's trials, I remember proceedings being interrupted by a broadcast of Russia's Security Council discussing recognising the independence of the occupied Donetsk and Luhansk regions [in eastern Ukraine]. "What's happened? Tell me!" he said. Navalny seemed to have forgotten that he was in court and could be sent to prison for a long time.

This episode, it seems to me, highlights the whole essence of Navalny - the fate of the country has always worried him more than his own fate.

Read their full comments in Russian here.