In Russia’s Arctic, Alexei Navalny’s mother searches for her son’s body

By KATIE MARIE DAVIES
Associated Press

For the mother of Alexei Navalny — the Russian opposition leader who died at age 47 in an Arctic penal colony — the journey to recover her son’s body was an odyssey with no clear destination. In the end, she didn’t get what she came for. Lyudmila Navalnaya, 69, received an official note Saturday stating that the politician had died in prison at 2:17 p.m. local time a day earlier. That’s according to Kira Yarmysh, Navalny’s spokesperson. Together with members of Navalny’s legal team, Lyudmila traveled to the town of Kharp in the Yamalo-Nenets region, some 1,900 kilometers (1,200 miles) northeast of Moscow.