Spokesperson: Navalny's Funeral to be Held on March 1 in Moscow

Flower and a pictures are left as a tribute to Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, near to the Russian Embassy in Budapest, Hungary, Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
Flower and a pictures are left as a tribute to Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, near to the Russian Embassy in Budapest, Hungary, Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
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Spokesperson: Navalny's Funeral to be Held on March 1 in Moscow

Flower and a pictures are left as a tribute to Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, near to the Russian Embassy in Budapest, Hungary, Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
Flower and a pictures are left as a tribute to Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, near to the Russian Embassy in Budapest, Hungary, Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny's funeral and farewell ceremony will be held on March 1 in Moscow, Navalny's spokesperson Kira Yarmysh said on the X social network.

The funeral will be held at the Borisovskoye cemetery after a farewell ceremony at a church in the Maryino district, she said.

A lawyer for the Russian opposition politician, who accompanied Navalny's mother last week as she fought to get authorities to hand over his body, was briefly detained on Tuesday in Moscow, Russian news media said.
The lawyer, Vasily Dubkov, later told independent news outlet Verstka that he had been released. Verstka said he did not comment on the reason for his detention but said it was an obstruction of his activity as a lawyer.
With Dubkov's help, Navalny's mother Lyudmila succeeded in obtaining the release of her son's body last Saturday, eight days after he died suddenly in an Arctic penal colony.
She had earlier accused investigators of trying to "blackmail" her by withholding the body unless she agreed to bury it without a public funeral, which she refused to accept.



Grossi Wants to Meet with Iran’s Pezeshkian ‘at Earliest Convenience’

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to the media at the Dupont Circle Hotel in Washington, US, March 15, 2023. (Reuters)
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to the media at the Dupont Circle Hotel in Washington, US, March 15, 2023. (Reuters)
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Grossi Wants to Meet with Iran’s Pezeshkian ‘at Earliest Convenience’

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to the media at the Dupont Circle Hotel in Washington, US, March 15, 2023. (Reuters)
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to the media at the Dupont Circle Hotel in Washington, US, March 15, 2023. (Reuters)

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi announced he intends to visit Tehran through a letter he addressed to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

Iranian Mehr Agency reported that Grossi sent a congratulatory message to the Iranian president-elect, which stated: “I would like to extend my heartfelt congratulations to you on your election win as President of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

“Cooperation between the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Islamic Republic of Iran has been at the focal attention of the international circles for many years. I am confident that, together, we will be able to make decisive progress on this crucial matter.”

“To that effect, I wish to express my readiness to travel to Iran to meet with you at the earliest convenience,” Iran’s Mehr news agency quoted Grossi as saying.

The meeting – should it take place - will be the first for Pezeshkian, who had pledged during his election campaign to be open to the West to resolve outstanding issues through dialogue.

Last week, American and Israeli officials told the Axios news site that Washington sent a secret warning to Tehran last month regarding its fears of Iranian research and development activities that might be used to produce nuclear weapons.

In May, Grossi expressed his dissatisfaction with the course of the talks he held over two days in Iran in an effort to resolve outstanding matters.

Since the death of the former Iranian president, Ibrahim Raisi, the IAEA chief refrained from raising the Iranian nuclear file, while European sources said that Tehran had asked to “freeze discussions” until the internal situation was arranged and a new president was elected.