The British government summoned diplomats from the Russian embassy on Friday evening to let them know that the Russian authorities are held “fully responsible” for the death of the Kremlin’s number one opponent, Alexei Navalny.
The British Foreign Office also said in a statement that Mr Navalny’s death in his Arctic prison must be “fully and transparently investigated”.
“In recent years, authorities have imprisoned him on trumped-up charges, poisoned him with a banned nerve agent, and sent him to an Arctic penal colony. No one should doubt the brutal nature of the Russian system”, underlines a spokesperson.
The British Foreign Office therefore “summoned (Friday) the Russian embassy to make it clear that we hold the Russian authorities fully responsible”, it is specified.
Earlier on Friday, the head of British diplomacy David Cameron warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin would have to be “accountable” for the death of the political opponent, paying tribute to his “courage”.
In the evening, hundreds of people gathered across Europe and the United States to pay tribute to Alexei Navalny, who died at the age of 47 in the penal colony where he was serving a 19-year sentence from prison.
In the British capital, several dozen people gathered in front of the Russian embassy, behind barriers, carrying signs in English or Russian saying “Putin assassin”, “Assassins”, “Navalny our hero”, ” My Russia is in prison”, “Don’t give up”, “We are Navalny” or even “Putin is burning in hell”.
This article is originally published on .laliberte.ch
