EU calls for ‘international investigation’ into Russian opposition activist’s death

“Russia must allow an independent and transparent international investigation into [the] circumstances of his sudden death,” Borrell said in a statement on Monday.

He added that the European bloc “will spare no efforts to hold Russia’s political leadership and authorities to account”, and threatened to impose more sanctions on Moscow.

He reiterated that the EU has been “outraged” by Navalny’s death.

Kremlin officials rejected on Tuesday a call for an independent postmortem examination on the remains of Navalny.

A spokesperson for Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected the body’s request, stressing “Moscow does not accept such demands” from the EU.

According to the Russian authorities, Navalny suddenly “felt ill” and collapsed on Friday. The efforts to resuscitate him had failed and he was pronounced dead the same day. The exact cause of death remains unclear. An investigation has since been launched.

Navalny was sent behind bars in 2021 for violating the terms of his suspended sentence for fraud. Two years later, he was sentenced to 19 years in prison for “extremist activities”.

The activist denied any wrongdoing and insisted that all cases against him were politically motivated. Navalny also alleged that the prison conditions were tantamount to “torture”.

Multiple Western leaders, including US President Joe Biden, have stressed that Russian President Putin the Russian government are ultimately “responsible” for Navalny’s death.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova blasted the West for “cynically” rushing to blame the Russian authorities instead of waiting until forensic reports are made public.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that it was “completely unacceptable” for Western politicians to make “outrageous statements” regarding Navalny when the investigation into his death is still ongoing.