Russia has rejected an international investigation demanded by the European Union into the death of jailed opposition figure Alexei Navalny, as his mother made an emotional plea outside the Siberian gulag where he died for the Kremlin to release his body.
"I appeal to you Vladimir Putin, because the solution to this problem depends only on you," Lyudmila Navalnaya told the Russian president in a one-minute video filmed outside the "Polar Wolf" prison camp where her son had been jailed while serving a decades-long sentence.
Russian authorities said the 47-year-old suddenly died there on Friday while taking a walk.
"Let me see my son. I demand that Alexei's body be released immediately so that I can bury him in a humane way."
Navalny's family and aides say they have yet to even be told where his body is being kept. His spokeswoman said there was little hope of Russia releasing the body to his family anytime soon.
On Monday, Kira Yarmysh wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that investigators had said "the body will be under some sort of 'chemical examination' for another 14 days"
In Moscow, President Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, rejected EU demands that an independent international investigation be conducted into Navalny's death.
"We do not accept such demands at all," Peskov said, according to Russian news agencies. Russia sees this as interference in its internal affairs.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell had called for an independent inquiry.
Peskov also rejected as "unfounded and outrageous" accusations by Navalny's widow Yulia Navalnaya that Putin had killed her husband. He said neither he nor Putin had watched the video, in which she vowed to continue her husband's fight against Putin's regime.
Peskov said he did not want to comment because Navalnaya "had just been widowed."
Meanwhile, Putin has promoted the deputy head of the FSIN prison authority, Valery Boyarinev, whom Navalny supporters say was personally responsible for the Russian dissident's torture in prison.
Boyarinev was promoted to colonel general of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
"This must be understood as Putin's open reward for torture," Ivan Zhdanov, the director of the Anti-Corruption Foundation established by Navalny, wrot on Telegram.
In July 2023, an order by Boyarinev to restrict Navalny's ability to buy food and daily necessities became known during a court hearing.
Prisoners can normally use their money to supplement their own meagre rations in the prison shop.
According to Zhdanov, the newly appointed colonel general was also responsible for further harassment of Navalny.
Peskov denied any connection between Navalny's death and the promotion, downplaying it as a normal procedure.
At the same time, the Kremlin spokesman defended the brutal action taken by security forces against Russians who laid flowers and lit candles in many cities across the country in memory of the deceased Putin opponent.
The uniformed officers had fulfilled their task in accordance with the law, said Peskov.
Hundreds of people have been detained in recent days for publicly commemorating the late opposition figure. Courts have imposed arrests or fines in summary proceedings. Despite this, many Russians continued to publicly express their grief.
Navalny's team criticized the fact that people in Russia are now being detained for laying flowers.
