Navalny's widow joins anti-Putin protests outside Berlin embassy

Yulia Navalnaya (C), widow of Alexey Navalny, stands in a queue outside the Russian Embassy in Berlin to vote during the 2024 Russian presidential elections. Carsten Koall/dpa

Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of dead Kremlin critic and opposition politician Alexei Navalny, joined protests against Russian President Vladimir Putin near his country's embassy in Berlin on Sunday.

Navalny's team published footage on Telegram in the afternoon showing Navalnaya, accompanied by spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh, in the middle of a crowd outside the Russian embassy in Berlin.

The video shows Navalnaya being embraced by a woman at the protest, which comes on the third and final day of voting in Russia's presidential election.

According to the Berlin police, around 800 people took part in the demonstration. The demonstrators chanted "Victory for Ukraine! Freedom for Russia!", "Navalny is a hero of Russia" and "Putin is illegitimate."

Numerous people waved flags in white-blue-white, which some participants said should be the new colours of a free Russia.

Around 2,000 people queued in front of the Russian embassy to vote, including both Navalnaya and fellow Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who lives in exile in the United Kingdom.

One woman said that she had been queuing to vote for two hours by midday.

Yulia Navalnaya (R), widow of Alexey Navalny, stands in a queue outside the Russian Embassy in Berlin to vote during the 2024 Russian presidential elections. Weronika Peneshko/dpa

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