MOSCOW, Feb 18, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - The US ambassador to Moscow visited a 
makeshift shrine to Alexei Navalny on Sunday, as Russian authorities 
suppressed memorials and tributes to the late opposition leader.

Rights groups say police have detained over 400 people at gatherings for the 
politician, a leading critic of President Vladimir Putin who died in an 
Arctic prison Friday.

Ambassador Lynne Tracy was pictured on Sunday at the Solovetsky Stone, a 
monument to political repression that has become a major site of tributes for 
Navalny.

"Today at the Solovetsky Stone we mourn the death of Alexei Navalny and other 
victims of political repression in Russia," the US embassy in Moscow said on 
social media.

"We extend our deepest condolences to Alexei Navalny's family, colleagues and 
supporters. His strength is an inspiring example. We honour his memory," it 
said.

At a separate makeshift memorial known as the "Wall of Grief", a bronze 
monument to Soviet-era repression, police had set up fences in a bid to ward 
off mourners.

Several dozen police officers could be seen standing nearby, but some people 
were allowed to enter through the fence and lay flowers, an AFP reporter saw.

Navalny, aged 47, was seen by many Russians as their best hope for change 
after years of perceived corruption and spiralling state oppression.

His death after over three years behind bars sparked a storm of condemnation 
from the West and despair among his supporters, many of whom are young 
people.

"It was not a death, it was murder," Leonid Volkov, a top Navalny ally, wrote 
on Telegram on Saturday.

"His life's work must win out," he said.