MOSCOW: Thousands of mourners attended the funeral of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in Moscow on Friday, two weeks after President Vladimir Putin`s top critic died in an Arctic prison.

Many carried flowers and shouted support for the 47-year-old anti-corruption campaigner who galvanised mass protests against Russian President Vladimir Putin, as the hearse arrived at a church for a short religious service.

A crowd gathered near the cemetery where Navalny was later buried on Friday shouted a series of slogans against the Kremlin and its offensive in Ukraine.

`No to war!` the crowd yelled, along with `Down with the power of murderers!` and `We will not forgive!` as many of Navalny`s supporters blame Putin for the death of his top critic.

Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of late Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, paid tribute to her husband on X shortly after his burial on Friday, thanking him for `26 years of absolute happiness`.

She wrote: `I don`t know how to live without you, but I will try my best to mal(e you up there happy for me and proud of me. I don`t know if I`ll manage it or not, but I will try.

The Kremlin, which has denied involvement and dismissed the accusations as `hysterical`warned against `unauthorised` protests around the funeral.

The body first lay in an open casket in a packed church in Maryino, southern Moscow, for a ceremony attended by his parents.

The coffin was closed immediately after the service. The coffin was then transported to the Borisovo cemetery, near the banks of the Moskva River, where several large wreaths were arranged around the grave. `We won`t forget you!` and `Forgive us!` some mourners shouted as the coffin arrived for burial.

`What are they afraid of?` Some 400 mourners have been detained at Navalny memorials since his death, rights organisation OVD-Info has said, and there was concern of more arrests at the funeral where a heavy police presence could be seen.

`Any unauthorised gatherings will be in violation of the law and those who participate in them will be held responsible,` Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to TASS news agency.

The French, German and US ambassadors were seen among mourners outside the church, as were some of Russia`s last free independent politicians.

The dissident`s widow, who is outside Russia and did not attend his funeral service, earlier said she feared the funeral could be disrupted by further arrests.

Navalnaya has blamed Putin for her husband`s death.

Putin`s spokesman Peskov hascriticised the accusations made by her and some Western leaders as `vulgar`.

On the day of the funeral, Peskov said he had `nothing to say` to the family of the deceased.

`Nothing to say` Navalny shot to prominence through his anti-corruption campaigning, exposing what he said was rampant graft at the top of Putin`s administration.

Some mourners mentioned the huge influence Navalny had on their own political activism.

`Because of him I began to get involved in politics... He was the first public person that I listened to,` said 26-year-old Denis, a volunteer at a charity.

Navalny was arrested in January 2021 when he returned to Russia from Germany. `Alexei was tortured for three years` before his death, Navalnaya told lawmakers in Brussels.

`He was starved in a tiny stone cell, cut off from the outside world and denied visits, phone calls, and then even letters.` `And then they killed him. Even after that, they abused his body,` she said.

His body was held in a morgue for eight days before being returned to the family, which Navalny`s team believed to be a bid to cover up responsibility for his death.

His family and his team have also accused authorities of trying to prevent a dignified public burial, fearing it could turn into a flashpoint for dissent.-AFP