Michael McFaul, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia, commended the thousands of people who attended Friday's funeral service for Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
“I have a lot of respect for those Muscovites that came out to honor Alexei Navalny," McFaul told MNSBC’s Ana Cabrera. "I think it’s important for everybody to know that Putin’s government tried really hard to not allow this to happen."
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov urged Navalny’s supporters not to break the law, saying any “unauthorized (mass) gatherings” are violations, The Associated Press reported.
McFaul said all of the funeral attendees were being photographed and can expect to be threatened with years in jail “for being on TV with us right now.”
“That is incredible bravery,” he said. “And for every one of them that is that brave, there’s another dozen people in Russia, in Moscow, who are not as courageous but have exactly the same preferences.”
Police turned out in force near the Moscow church where the funeral was being held. Officers watched as hundreds of people waited to enter the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God Soothe My Sorrows, which was surrounded by crowd-control barriers.
The attendants applauded and chanted his name when the hearse arrived and Navalny’s coffin could be seen taken out of the vehicle.
Navalny, 47, rose to fame for becoming one of the most vocal critics of Russian President Vladimir Putin. He was reported dead by Russian authorities on Feb. 16 in the country’s highest-security prison near the Arctic Circle.
President Biden and other world leaders have blamed Putin for Navalny’s death, but Russian officials have denied the accusations. Instead, they claimed he died of “sudden death syndrome” — a vague term for various cardiac syndromes that can prompt sudden cardiac arrest and death.
McFaul, a close friend of Navalny’s, highlighted that his family defied the Russian government, who threatened to “bury him in Siberia” and overcame scheduling difficulties with churches who refused to host them.
“Even in these horrible, horrific moments of their lives, they are still defying Putin,” he said.
The former ambassador has maintained his original position that the Kremlin was behind Navalny's death, arguing they were threatened by his political opposition.