Alexei Navalny’s widow has demanded the release of his body for burial as she accused Vladimir Putin of “torturing” her husband in death as he had in life.

Yulia Navalnaya accused the Russian leader of having “fake” faith because “no true Christian could ever do what Putin is now doing”.

She also said he hid behind religion while choosing to “bomb sleeping civilians at night with church-consecrated missiles” in a clear reference to Moscow’s deadly onslaught against Ukraine.

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Ms Navalnaya levelled her criticism against Mr Putin in a six-minute video posted on YouTube.

It came after Mr Navalny’s mother said the authorities had threatened to bury him in the remote Arctic penal colony where he died unless she agreed to lay him to rest without a public funeral.

The 47-year-old jailed dissident collapsed and failed to regain consciousness on 16 February, amid suspicious circumstances.

The leading Kremlin critic was serving a three-decade sentence following years of persecution that included poisoning with a nerve agent in 2020.

His death saw hundreds of Russians across the country stream to impromptu memorials with flowers and candles.

The authorities detained scores of people as they sought to suppress any major outpouring of sympathy for Mr Putin’s fiercest opponent ahead of a presidential election he is almost certain to win.

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In the emotional video, Ms Navalnaya, 47, dressed in black, said: “Give us the body of my husband.

“You tortured him alive, and now you keep torturing him dead. You mock the remains of the dead.”

She added: “We already knew that Putin’s faith was fake. But now we see it more clearly than ever before.

“No true Christian could ever do what Putin is now doing with Alexei’s body.

“Give us back the body of my husband. We want to hold a funeral service and bury him in a humane way, in the ground, as is customary in Orthodox Christianity.”

Since returning to the Russian presidency in 2012, Mr Putin has positioned himself as a defender of traditional, conservative values against what he portrays as decadent Western liberalism.

He has also stressed his closeness to Russia’s Orthodox Church, regularly appearing at services around religious festivals, and speaking of his personal faith.

Accusing Mr Putin of “hiding behind the values of Christianity”, Ms Navalnaya said: “You just kill. You just bomb sleeping civilians at night. With church-consecrated missiles.”

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In a warning to the regime, she added: “If you really consider yourself to be believers then know that you will answer for all of this and not only to the people.”

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Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has rejected allegations Mr Putin was involved in Mr Navalny’s death, calling them “absolutely unfounded, insolent accusations about the head of the Russian state”.

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