Widow to continue Navalny's fight

Yulia Navalnaya, widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, said in a video message yesterday that she would continue the work of her husband and fight for a free Russia.

"I want to live in a free Russia, I want to build a free Russia," Navalnaya said.

"[Russian president] Vladimir Putin killed my husband," she said, adding that she would work with the Russian people to battle the Kremlin to create a new Russia. The Kremlin has denied involvement in his death.

Navalnaya accused the Russian authorities of hiding Navalny's body and of waiting for traces of the Novichok nerve agent to disappear from his body.

Navalny's allies know why he was killed and would soon reveal details, including the names of those involved in his murder, she said.

That came as Navalny's mother, Lyudmila, was refused access to his body for a third day.

Navalny's death in an Arctic prison, which said it happened during a walk, on Friday has shocked the country's exiled opposition which - along with the West - pointed the finger at the Kremlin.