Vladimir Putin reportedly ordered Russian secret agents to prevent unrest at Alexei Navalny’s funeral from becoming a full-scale revolt.
It’s thought the Russian leader feared that the ceremony for the late opposition leader and fierce Putin critic on Saturday would spark scenes similar to Andrei Sakharov’s funeral in 1989, which helped bring down the Soviet Union.
The Kremlin ordered FSB agents to conduct an “operation” to “protect the constitutional order from threats”, the Moscow Times reported.
“The task [by FSB] was to prevent a revolt similar to the farewell to Sakharov,” an official told the outlet.
Sakharov, a Nobel prize-winning scientist, spent his career developing Nuclear weapons for the Soviet Union, and was often called the “father of the Soviet hydrogen bomb.”
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But he is perhaps best remembered for his political activism and advocacy for nuclear non-proliferation, a position which infuriated the Soviet leadership.
Like Navalny, Sakharov became the leader of a growing opposition movement against the establishment – which led to him being exiled to Gorky, a Russian city on the Volga River.
Sakharov died of natural causes two years before the fall of the Soviet Union.
His funeral drew close to 50,000 people and citizens present offered vocal support for the Russian critic.
It was seen as an illustration that the country was on the verge of dramatic political change, ahead of the Soviet Union’s collapse.
Putin reportedly ordered maximum measures to be taken to prevent Navalny’s funeral on Saturday from triggering similar public unrest, while state and Kremlin-loyal media were ordered not to cover the funeral procession.
Two senior sources told the outlet that the ceremony to mark Navalny’s death “caused unrest among the country’s top leadership, despite the ostentatious self-confidence demonstrated by President Vladimir Putin”.
The Kremlin “held a series of meetings with senior generals of the Federal Security Service and the Ministry of Internal Affairs following the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in a colony above the Arctic Circle”, they said.
An official said: “Navalny’s funeral is a stress test for the Russian authorities.
“This topic was one of the most important at meetings involving Kremlin officials, FSB generals and the Ministry of Internal Affairs.”
Tens of thousands remained after the burial in Moscow to pay their respects to Navalny – and chanted slogans opposing the war, and supporting Ukraine.
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Police detained over 400 people across the country at memorials and rallies honouring the late opposition leader after his unexplained death in jail.
Six others were detained at the funeral procession itself, though large crowds of mourners remained, The Sun reported.
One man reportedly shouted: “Who killed Navalny?”
The Russian opposition leader’s open-casket ceremony came two weeks after his unexplained death.
Mourners were reportedly heard chanting: “Putin is a killer”, “We won’t forget”, “Freedom for political prisoners”, and “Russia without Putin”.
Iron fences surrounded the church, an apparent attempt to limit access to the ceremony, and a notice told people not to take photographs or film.
The Russian government had warned against unsanctioned gatherings for Navalny ahead of the event.
“Any unauthorised gatherings will be in violation of the law and those who participate in them will be held responsible,” Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Navalny, 47, died in Polar Wolf jail, a prison in the Russian Arctic on February 16 while serving a 19-year sentence on charges widely regarded as trumped up by Russian authorities.
