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CNN International: Russian Opposition Leader Alexei Navalny's Funeral to be Held Soon in Moscow; Spokesperson: Navalny's Body Not Yet Release to Family. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired March 01, 2024 - 04:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[04:30:00]

BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: The services and they're worried about what will happen as the day progresses. Navalny's widow is concerned that people who show up to honor him could be arrested, like hundreds of others who have been detained at makeshift memorials in recent days.

Let's bring in former CNN Moscow bureau chief Nathan Hodge. He's with me in London. And Nathan, just into CNN, I want to let our viewers know that we've had reports that Alexei Navalny's body has not yet been released, according to a family spokesperson. That spokesperson has tweeted that the body hadn't been released. This is as of 10 minutes ago. He wrote on Twitter that the relatives arrived at the morgue for 10 a.m. local time. So that would be roughly two hours ago, I think.

And then the spokesperson added that there could be delays to some of today's events as a result of the fact that his body hasn't been released. Give us some context to that and why officials would be making this difficult.

NATHAN HODGE, CNN FORMER MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF: Well, I mean, first of all, this is a continuation, it seems, of the saga that we've seen over just unfolding over the past two weeks following on the news of Navalny's death and the refusal initially of the authorities at the prison in Russia's far north to hand over the body to his mother.

There was what, you know, one could only describe as an incredible bureaucratic song and dance with a mother and a lawyer for Navalny going up to the prison -- this is in north of the Arctic Circle -- trying to get the body of her son turned over. And this, you know, quite shocking discussion about the fact that, no, that the authorities were applying pressure, according to the opposition, to either have a secret burial, to not hand over the body. You know, so there was an incredible behind the scenes tussle about this.

And Navalny's supporters really called out Russian President Putin over this, basically pointing out the fact that he's always cast himself as a defender of traditional values, as sort of a religiously observant and devout person. He makes great public show of going to church. He's got the full-throated support of the Russian Orthodox Church. He's forged an important alliance, in fact, with the church. And, you know, this is basically, in their view, they said, well, this

is hypocrisy. How can one, you know, be a sort of a proponent of traditional values of defending the family? You know, this is the theme that Putin loves to bang on about, when you're basically standing in the way of allowing people to have their last farewell with Navalny.

NOBILO: Yes, I was going to say that. I mean, it's an extremely ignoble look for anybody to be interfering at that time for a family. Nathan Hodge, thank you for all of your analysis. Do stay very close.

Let's bring in CNN's Matthew Chance, who is live in Moscow. Matthew, describe to us how things are playing out where you are and how all of this is being covered in Russia, culminating in today's funeral.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Sorry, I lost contact with the studio then. Can you --

NOBILO: I don't think we have Matthew. We're going to see if we can get him back. We'll definitely have him on later on in the show. But we can go back to Nathan, who's still with us here.

So, Nathan, we were just discussing how bizarre, really, this look is for the Russian government and government officials to be making it difficult for Navalny's family to have access to his body at this time.

The fact that they've still done that, does that just mean that they don't feel, as it's not being reported widely in the Russian press, that that's an issue for them?

HODGE: Well, I mean, first of all, we're in an information bind here. You know, as Alexander Baunov said earlier, there are sort of two official Russian media. There are -- you know, there's state television, then there are sort of the pro-Kremlin, you know, Telegram and social media channels.

You know, obviously, they've got their own agenda that they're trying to push. You know, but there's not a complete information blockade in Russia. You know, people can -- you know there are ways. There are emigre and exiled media. You know, there is opposition media, however small and embattled and however much they've been exiled.

So this narrative that's being pushed forward, basically, that, you know, that government officials are essentially standing in the way of people who want to pay their respects to someone two weeks after their death, you know, this can penetrate. It does put the authorities in a bind.

How much longer can they put off handing over the body? How can they stand in the way reasonably, of a funeral? Obviously, the concern, you know, as we've sort of -- if we take a broader picture of what's unfolding here, clearly there is a concern, just given the police presence there. That what would be a funeral can morph into a political funeral, that it could, you know, turn into a larger confrontation. [04:35:00]

I'm certain that, of course, the authorities are prepared to make arrests. You know, they've shown, you know, absolute willingness to crack down ruthlessly on anything that they see as unauthorized protest.

NOBILO: Nathan Hodge, stand by for us. Thank you.

Let's go now live to CNN's Matthew Chance again, in Moscow for us. Matthew, just checking the comms, do you have me? We don't have Matthew. We're having a little bit of an issue with our feeds there.

Nathan let's focus on what the future of Russia's political opposition looks like without Alexei Navalny. We've obviously been hearing a lot, justifiably and appropriately, from his widow over the last few weeks. Tell us what you expect to see next.

HODGE: Well, I mean, it is a bleak picture if one expects to see political competition return to Russia. You know, the space for the opposition to exist in has become ever, ever smaller over more than, well now, 24 years of Putin being in power.

And you know, independent media have, you know, gradually been shuttered. And then there was sort of a final curtain coming down in a lot of ways with the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with more repressive laws being introduced that cracked down on the independence of the media and created ever less space for there to be any kind of ideas that compete with the official line.

So in a lot of ways, what we're seeing here, I mean, one could sort of metaphorically say this is kind of a funeral for the Russian opposition inside of Russia, you know, if you're trying to tease out a bit of symbolism here.

But, you know, Navalny and, you know, Navalny's supporters, his wife, have made clear that, you know, their fight is going to continue. It's going to continue inside of Russia, not just being marginalized and exiled. And that's why we've seen this sort of remarkable emergence just over the past two weeks of Yulia Navalnaya, his widow, basically assuming the mantle of the opposition and stepping in.

You know, one of the things about Navalny was, you know, he was seen as a -- he was a charismatic leader and was this sort of single unifying figurehead. You know, in a country where basically, you know, political competition is just not allowed, you know, President Putin is going to be standing in what we're calling an election two weeks from now. But it's more or less a re-anointment. And, you know, they're not allowing anyone who is, let's say, opposed to the, you know, the full scale -- opposed to the invasion of Ukraine, who is not essentially, you know, a supporter of the Kremlin.

I think for the for the Kremlin, really, the important thing is, is turnout, you know, basically showing that you have this plebiscite that says, you know, that Putin has the mandate, he has the people behind him. You know, and a great deal of the population does get its information from, from state media. And, you know, therefore, opposition voices just generally are not heard.

Genuine opposition, opposition voices. I'm not talking about the sort of essentially loyal pro-Kremlin kind of pocket opposition parties that are in the parliament. You know, I think that, you know, this is -- this is a moment where it shows, you know, how fractured and how embattled Russia's opposition has long been.

And, you know, but the fact that they are able to muster people on the streets, I mean, thousands of Russians were arrested, you know, just following the full-scale invasion, you know, risking arrest and often being arrested, you know, despite the fact that there is an enormous apparatus of state that is repressive.

NOBILO: Just very briefly to you before the break, other than Alexei Navalny's wife assuming this mantle, is there any obvious successor to him?

HODGE: I mean, I would say that there's no clear sort of -- you know, Navalny, in many ways, took over -- I mentioned earlier, after Boris Nemtsov, he was seen as sort of, you know, the most prominent leader of the opposition. You know, and does the opposition need to have a sort of a single charismatic leader in order to be effective? You know, that's that that is, in many ways, kind of the big question here.

You know, but I mean, part of the problem has been that, you know, Putin has created this system of vertical power, which doesn't allow for political competition. So, you know, it does -- it does create a system where, you know, there is, you know, it's very difficult for somebody to step forward because of the risk of, you know, arrest or imprisonment. But there's also no clear successor to Putin, it's also worth pointing out. I mean, he's going to be in office potentially until, you know, another six year term until 2030. After, you know, what's inevitably seen as his reelection in two weeks, what's widely seen as the outcome is a foregone conclusion.

But has he begun the process himself of, you know, anointing a successor? That's also, you know, an important political question for the future of Russia.

NOBILO: Certainly. Nathan Hodge do continue to stand by. Thank you so much.

[04:40:00]

Supporters are preparing to bid their final goodbyes to Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, but as they get ready for a funeral service, police are not too far. We'll have an update on that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NOBILO: We're looking at live pictures of the church of the icon of the Mother of God in Moscow. The funeral services for Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny were supposed to take place there in less than 90 minutes. A short time after that, he was expected to be buried at a nearby

cemetery. But now we are getting word from Navalny's spokesperson that Navalny's body has not yet been released to his relatives. It's not clear why, and the spokesperson says that some of today's events could naturally be delayed as a consequence.

Navalny was the most vocal critic of President Vladimir Putin. He died mysteriously two weeks ago in Siberia, where he was serving a 19-year sentence for various crimes. Officials say he died of natural causes. The Kremlin has denied any involvement in Navalny's sudden death.

Let's bring back in former CNN Moscow bureau chief Nathan Hodge with me here in London. Nathan, before we get on to the broader picture, I think it's probably important to address today, on the day of the funeral, the circumstances around Navalny's death.

I mean, even if they were of natural causes, of course this is all speculation, we don't know. What he was subjected to, the long- standing concerns about his health, do mean that there is culpability here, regardless.

HODGE: Well, I mean, first of all, anyone who's sort of a long- standing observer of the Russian prison system, you know, sees, you know, quite clearly that this is a system that is set up to crush people. And this is the point that Navalny and his supporters were always making.

[04:45:00]

You know, there is, you know, a long tradition, and I'm saying going back not just to the Soviet days, but even to the Tsarist era, of using internal exile and imprisonment as a way of quashing any kind of domestic political opposition.

You know, and Navalny was kept in extremely harsh conditions. And this was a man who had recovered from, you know, a near-fatal poisoning before returning to Russia.

Now, I mean, we did see pictures of him when he was still alive in the days before in video-linked court appearances. And he looked healthy. I mean, he looked sort of, I mean, he was quite gaunt.

And clearly, he was being held in harsh conditions. I mean, but he did manage to -- and I think one of his sort of political gifts was that he had a sort of a subversive sense of humor, one that sort of, you know, relayed some kind of optimism even under the worst kind of circumstances. And he was, you know, he was getting messages out and getting messages, for instance, onto Telegram from prison.

And he was making fun of the, you know, the prison conditions, you know, the horrible music that was being blared, you know, like, you know, patriotic pop songs that were being played over the loudspeaker when he got up in the morning.

But, I mean, you know, it is worth pointing out here that, you know, we still, there are a lot of unanswered questions about what the cause of death were. What, you know, what exactly led to his death? I mean, but one thing is certainly clear that, you know, the trials, the, you know, the additional sentences that he was given, you know, all pointed to, you know, a system that was basically, you know, meant to ensure that he stayed behind bars and out of politics for as long as possible.

NOBILO: Nathan, thank you. Do stand by for us.

Let's now bring in, you know, Matthew Chance live in Moscow for us. Matthew, describe to us how things are evolving, how they're playing out where you are and how all of this is being covered in Russia, culminating in today's expected funeral.

CHANCE: Yes, no, well, look, I mean, you join me outside the Quench My Thirst church in one of the suburbs of Moscow, which is actually the suburb where Alexei Navalny lived for many years with his family. And there are hundreds of people that have so far gathered outside the church.

It's where the funeral ceremony is planned to be held amid a big tight security operation as well. People have come from all over the region. In fact, I've spoke to people from St. Petersburg, from Nizhny Novgorod, from Moscow have come here to pay their respects, they say, because they're so sad and so distraught about what has happened.

Let's give you an indication of the kind of numbers we're talking about. You can see the line stretching out into the distance. We can't see where the line ends. And so we're talking hundreds of people, possibly several thousand at this point. It's not clear. It's difficult to assess.

It's also, as I mentioned, a very tight security operation. And there are police lining the entire route of this queue of people, this line of people. And there are defensive barriers, crowd control barriers being erected as well to try and control the crowds which are expected to come and pay their respects to Alexei Navalny, the late opposition leader.

That's sort of not a bad sign in the sense that, you know, there is a lot of concern about how the authorities are going to respond to this kind of outpouring of support for a prominent opposition figure like Alexei Navalny. We've seen over the course of the past several weeks since his death two weeks ago, people have been arrested in their hundreds, according to human rights groups, simply for laying flowers at makeshift memorials across the country. And so there's a lot of concern that there could be, you know, a very heavy-handed approach by the authorities when it comes to this much bigger outpouring of grief for the late opposition leader.

At the moment, though, I should say that there's been no sign of trouble that we have seen in terms of the police and the crowds that have gathered. Kira Yarmysh, who is Alexei Navalny's -- was Alexei Navalny's spokeswoman -- spokesperson, has said there is a problem, though. And the latest problem is that the body of Navalny has not yet been handed over to the team, to the family, and so it could mean there are some delays taking place to the funeral services that have been planned. The funeral is meant to begin in about an hour from now, but that could slide.

And according to Navalny's team, there have been a whole host of obstacles that have been set up by the authorities to delay and disrupt these proceedings. For instance, last night the Navalny team said they were unable to get a hearse, to book a hearse, to take the coffin from the church to the cemetery, where it's going to be finally -- where Navalny's are finally going to be laid to rest. It was a whole problem getting a church and a cemetery booked in the first place. No one wanted to take the body of Alexei Navalny.

And of course, there was a big delay as well in the handover of the remains of Alexei Navalny to the family. It took the authorities about eight days in order for them to do that.

[04:50:03]

And so, look, the suspicion and the allegation on the part of the Navalny team and the Navalny family is the authorities wanted to do everything they could to prevent a mass public funeral like this one taking place. Because we're just a couple of weeks before a presidential election in this country, where Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, is expected to, you know, be reappointed in that position for a fifth term. My apologies.

And this is exactly the kind of show of support for the opposition that the Kremlin wanted to avoid. But there you have it. That's the situation now.

Hundreds, if not thousands, of people that have gathered outside this church in the suburbs of Moscow, people coming from all over the place to pay their last respects to Alexei Navalny -- Bianca.

NOBILO: That is Matthew Chance for us in Moscow, who is on the street outside of the church where the funeral of Alexei Navalny is scheduled to take place later on today.

As Matthew was saying, there are some unforeseen obstacles at the moment. Namely, we're hearing from Navalny's former spokeswoman that the body has not been released to the family. So we will keep you posted on all of those developments.

So crowds are continuing to gather in Moscow to bid their final goodbye to opposition leader Alexei Navalny. That is happening under a watchful eye of Russian police. The very latest for you when we come back.

[04:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NOBILO: Welcome back. Well, this morning, we are following the preparations ahead of the funeral of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and breaking news just now. We've heard that his body has been handed over to his relatives, according to his former spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh. She also tweeted that a hearse will soon be heading over to the church. It had initially been reported by that same spokesperson that the

family had been unable to secure the body earlier on today and they hadn't been handed over. We also know, as we've been speaking to our analysts and CNN reporters earlier, that there was an issue with the family securing a hearse as well.

So at the moment, all of those obstacles seem to have been overcome. The late activist made the announcement ahead of the funeral that it was set to begin in a little over an hour.

Now, CNN teams on the ground have seen crowds gathering hours ahead of the ceremony, gradually growing as well. We've been speaking to our correspondent Matthew Chance, who is there.

But police are putting on a show of force with videos showing officers deployed on nearby rooftops as well. Navalny's spokesperson also said that some of the farewell events could be delayed. And, of course, there is concern -- there is concern that those who attend may be arrested or may come under police crackdown themselves. We'll be monitoring throughout the day.

That does it here for this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Bianca Nobilo in London. CNN "THIS MORNING" is next, after a quick break with more of this continuing coverage of Alexei Navalny's upcoming funeral.