Arrests as Navalny mourned amid fight to recover his body

Alexei Navalny's supporters accused Russian authorities of being "killers" who were "covering their tracks" by refusing to hand over his body, as the Kremlin stayed silent despite Western accusations and a flood of tributes to the late opposition leader.

The 47-year-old Kremlin critic died in an Arctic prison on Friday after spending more than three years behind bars, prompting outrage and condemnation from Western leaders and his supporters.

His death, which the West has blamed on the Kremlin, deprives Russia's opposition of its figurehead just a month before elections poised to extend President Vladimir Putin's grip on power.

On Saturday, Navalny's mother, Lyudmila, and his lawyer were refused access to his body after arriving at the remote Siberian prison colony, his spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said.

"It's obvious that the killers want to cover their tracks and are therefore not handing over Alexei's body, hiding it even from his mother," Navalny's team posted on Telegram.

Across the country, Russian police on Saturday moved swiftly to break up small protests in honor of the Kremlin critic, arresting more than 400 people in 36 cities, the OVD-Info rights group said.

Russian courts on Saturday started issuing short-term jail sentences of up to 15 days for those detained at the commemorations, rights groups reported.

G7 foreign ministers meeting in Munich held a minute's silence for Navalny on Saturday, while US President Joe Biden explicitly blamed Putin.

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Yulia Navalnaya said Putin and his entourage would be "punished for everything they have done to our country, to my family and husband."

Russian Nobel Peace Prize winner Dmitry Muratov said Navalny was "tortured and tormented."

Tributes poured in, as supporters staged anti-Putin protests around the world.

Navalny died on Friday when he lost consciousness after having "felt bad after a walk," Russia's federal penitentiary service said.

One of his lawyers, Leonid Solovyov, told the Novaya Gazeta newspaper that Navalny was "normal" when another lawyer saw him on Wednesday.

In footage of a court hearing from his prison colony on Thursday, Navalny was seen smiling and joking.