Queue To Bid Farewell To Navalny Stretching For Kilometre

People continue to arrive.

The queue of those wishing to bid farewell to Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, who died in a penal colony above the Arctic Circle on January 16, has stretched for a kilometre, says Kommersant journalist Alexander Chernykh.

People started to arrive two hours before the burial service, which was to take place in the church of the Mother of God's icon "Quench My Sorrows" in Maryino in southeastern Moscow. By the time the car carrying Navalny's body arrived at the church, several thousand people were on the scene, including politicians Yevgeny Roizman, Boris Nadezhdin and Ekaterina Duntzova, as well as representatives of the French and German embassies.

The Borisovskoye cemetery, where the funeral is to take place, has been closed to unauthorised visitors: the area has been cordoned off, the entrance has been blocked by a KamAZ truck, and cameras are being urgently installed around it. Representatives of special services in civilian clothes with special equipment can be seen near the burial site.