Alexei Navalny's latest death: X recovers his wife Yulia's account as Putin files suit against his brother

The European Union summoned Russia's representative to the bloc and called for an independent international investigation into the death of Alexei Navalny.

The EU diplomatic service said a senior figure in Brussels also urged Russia to hand over Navalny's body to his family without further delay during the meeting with Kirill Loginov, Russia's acting permanent representative to the EU.

“The European Union side conveyed the EU's anger over the death of Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, for which ultimate responsibility lies with President Putin and the Russian authorities,” the statement said.

A ministry spokesman said that the Italian Foreign Ministry summoned the Russian ambassador against the backdrop of the death of opposition politician Alexei Navalny.

Yulia Navalnaya responded after Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov sought to describe her accusations that her husband had been poisoned as “absolutely baseless and impudent accusations against the Russian head of state.”

In her latest post on X/Twitter, Ms. Navalnaya said: “I don’t care how the killer’s press secretary comments on my words. Return Alexei’s body, let him be buried with dignity, and don’t stop people from saying goodbye to him.”

“And I really ask all the journalists who are still asking questions: Don’t ask about me, ask about Alexei.”

The White House announced that a new package of sanctions against Russia is set to take effect following the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny in a concentration camp in Siberia.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby said existing sanctions “will be specifically supplemented by additional sanctions related to the death of Mr. Navalny.”

While noting that the United States does not yet know the cause of Navalny's death, Kirby continued to blame Putin, telling reporters: “Regardless of the scientific answer, Putin is responsible for it.”

my colleague Gustav Kilander Reports from Washington, D.C.:

The United States will announce a major package of sanctions on Russia on Friday in response to the death of Alexei Navalny, the White House said.

National Security spokesman John Kirby told reporters that the package would “hold Russia accountable for what happened to Mr. Navalny” and for its actions during the war in Ukraine.

Lyudmila Navalnaya, 69, was seen placing a bouquet of white flowers next to a photo of her son.

Social media site X claimed to have suspended Yulia Navalnaya's account after it was mistakenly flagged as “violating our rules”.

“Our platform's defense mechanism against tampering and spam has been incorrectly flagged

As a violation of our rules,” @yulia_navalnaya wrote.

“We unsuspended the account as soon as we learned of the error, and will update the defense.”

They did not explain how they wrongly believed Ms Navalnaya had broken the rules.

The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it summoned the Russian ambassador against the backdrop of the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

The ministry said in a statement: “The ministry calls on the Russian authorities to bear responsibility for the death of Alexei Navalny and to conduct a full and transparent investigation to determine the circumstances and cause of his death.”

In a recorded message outside the Arctic Wolf penal colony in the Arctic Circle on Tuesday (February 20), Lyudmila Navalnaya said: “I appeal to you, Vladimir Putin, because the solution to this problem depends only on you.

“Let me finally see my son. I demand that Alexei’s body be released immediately so I can bury him humanely.”

Russian authorities said they would not return Navalny's body for two weeks while they continued to investigate his death.